Many Thanks to All Make A Difference Day Volunteers

The Stone Soup Foundation would like to thank all those who helped make the first Make A Difference Day on Martha's Vineyard a great success. In honor of this national day of service on Saturday, October 28, over 100 people -- of all ages -- on the Island joined together to:

• Collect 600 items to stock the Island Food Pantry for the winter in honor of Pam Perry;
• Raise $800 for the Martha's Vineyard After School Program yard sale;
• Collect 100 books for Project Headway's children;
• Read 100 stories to children and seniors at the Readathon;
• Shingle a house for Habitat for Humanity;
• Paint a bi-lingual mural for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary;
• Clean two playgrounds at Oak Bluffs and Edgartown schools;
• Plant beach grass at Lambert's Cove Beach;
• Clean Edgartown's Bend in the Road Beach;
• Hand-clear a 1/4 acre of land for Sheriff's Meadow's environmental museum.

Thanks to our co-chairs, Ted Morgan and Bob Tankard; project managers Tisha Capello and Colleen Leland; teachers Joan Creato, Marsha Curtis, Hope Fecitt, Mike Halt, Betsy Hauck, Peggy Isham and Bill Jones; Morgan Hauck, City Year/Providence, RI who spoke at all the school assemblies along with Stone Soup Community Heroes Ed Jerome, Anna Markwica, Ted Morgan, Ethel Sherman, Priscilla Sylvia, Robert Tankard and Arthur Wortzel; and musician Niki Patton, Ted Morgan and Leo Convroy, Doris Gaffney and MV Regional High School for their contribution to our community celebration.

Special thanks to our business donors: Carroll's Moving &Trucking Inc. and Vineyard Packaging Service for help with the food drive; food and beverages from A&P, Black Dog, David Ryan's, Edgartown Pizza, Island Food Products, Louis', Vineyard Bottled Water; and the Wal-Mart Foundation.

Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary with Rebecca Taylor and Pam Benjamin.

Island Food Pantry with Armen Hanjian and the West Tisbury school, teachers Robyn Wingate and parents, Nancy Cole, Pat Lynch, Tom Ronan, Peggy Stone and eighth grade and British exchange students with Student Council members, especially Sarah Greenberg, Christine Ronan, Sophie Lloyd, Alyssa Harrison, the Edgartown Junior Girl Scout Troop and all those who donated food.

Habitat for Humanity with Armen Hanjian, Mark, Rich Combra, Clifford Jernegan and the Nantucket Congregational Church.

Lambert's Cove Beach grass planting with Betsy Mayhew with Peggy, Brittney and Matthew Stone, Eric Bates, Nancy Rogers and Pheobe Bates.

Beach and Playground Clean Up: Pack 90, Den 5 Tiger Cubs for cleaning the playgrounds at the Oak Bluffs and Edgartown school and Edgartown's third graders for cleaning up Bend in the Road Beach.

Martha's Vineyard After School Program with Marsha Curtis, Betsy Corsiglia, Betsy Edge.

MVRHS Vocational Child Development with Ruth Major and the Garden Gate Child Development Center, Martha's Vineyard Hospital's Learning Center, Martha's Vineyard Community Services Early Children Program, the Rainbow Place who collected 100 books for Project Headway.

Readathon with Ethel Sherman with Sue Larsen's Girl Scout Troop in Chilmark; Diane Headen with Victoria, Lani and Thomas Phillips, Jerry, Nancy and Matthew Brightman, Marge Larned, Emily Miller, Barbara Fell in Vineyard Haven; Janet and Sheldon Bank, Candy and Lyndsey Webster, Celeste V. Bailey, Erinn Long, Sophie Van Raan, Martha Hubble with Mary Jo Joiner in West Tisbury; Jesse Taylor and Oak Bluffs Student Council with Pam Melrose; Janet Holladay, Michael, Karen and Megan Dutton with Linda Norton in Oak Bluffs; Helen Manning, Suzanne Carmick, Zoe "Pinky" Zeeman, Caley Bennett, Sandy and Charlotte Rose Benjamin with Agnieszka Meyro and Natalie Francis in Aquinnah; Christine Ronan and Sarah Greenberg with Susan Markwica at Family Center; Ann Tyra, Janelle Guanino, Ashley Guanino, Shana Patz, Molly Cabral with Debbie MacInnest in Edgartown.

Sheriff's Meadow with Debra Swanson, Dick and Sarah Johnson, Bill Bridwell, Emily Miller, Nick Turner and Lauren and Matte Horton.

and to everyone who volunteered on this day on their projects. When we all work together, we can build a better world for everyone.