The following note to the Gazette arrived handwritten from a third grader in Los Angeles seeking information for a school project about the state of Massachusetts. The project also involves resurrecting the lost art of letter writing. The school address is listed below for anyone who would like to help the student.

Beginning Jan. 20, the National Alliance on Mental Illness will be offering a family-to-family course here on the Island designed to help family members better understand and support relatives with major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder or an anxiety disorder.

From the Vineyard Gazette edition of January 5, 1940:

The first real snowfall of winter began Friday night and continued through Saturday morning, until the Island was covered to a depth of four to five inches. There were no large drifts in most neighborhoods, but the snow proved to be a taste of genuine winter just the same. The snow clung to trees and fences, and the outlook everywhere was spectacularly beautiful.

It has been another emotion-filled holiday season for the Family-to-Family Holiday Distribution Program.

I have been following news stories about Stop & Shop’s efforts to build a new, larger store in their current Five Corners Vineyard Haven location.