The low, throaty rumble of motorcycles echoed up and down North Road last Sunday, a brilliant autumn day on the Vineyard. It was the Martha’s Vineyard Harley riders on their annual Run to the Rock, a fundraiser for the Red Stocking Fund. Manned by expert riders, the meticulously-maintained machines blew elegantly through windrows of colored leaves along roadsides bordered by stone walls.

This is the official start of the giving season, and it could be said that on the Vineyard the Run to the Rock kicks it off. Thanks to the Harley riders and their generous fundraising efforts every year on behalf of Red Stocking, when Christmastime rolls around in a few weeks, needy Vineyard children will be the recipients of warm winter coats, cozy pajamas and new toys.

A quick look around the Island quickly reveals many examples of giving back, so many they could not all be listed in this space. But a few in particular stand out this year.

At a breakfast next month, Armen and Vicky Hanjian will be honored with the Spirit of the Vineyard award for their extraordinary community service work on the Island. Married Methodist ministers, the hardworking Hanjians have volunteered in so many ways on the Island through the decades you would need a flow chart to keep track of their good deeds. The Vineyard Food Pantry, Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard and Windemere are just a few of the organizations that have benefitted from their work.

Early this week at a first-of-its-kind gathering, the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard honored a long list of recipients of grant funding. Worthy causes ranged from land conservation to services for the elderly, youth and people who are homeless. Created in 1982, Permanent Endowment manages thirty nine individual funds. Since its inception, more than $2.8 million in scholarships and $2.6 million in grants have been awarded, acting executive director Emily Bramhall said.

“This is truly the Island’s community foundation,” she said during the event at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center.

In the glare of the summer season, it’s sometimes difficult to see the hardships that many Vineyarders endure, but these are more apparent as the days get shorter.

But it also puts in relief the many people who give back so generously here, and offers a chance to recognize them.

By longstanding tradition, the Island community takes care of its own.