People on Martha’s Vineyard are receiving food aid in numbers that local agencies have never seen before. In January the Island Food Pantry served more than 1,000 Vineyard residents.

As the Island’s new community health nurse, West Tisbury native Lila Fischer said she is seeing the Vineyard in a whole new light.

Every year Armen Hanjian gives a talk to the second graders at the Oak Bluffs School about the Island Food Pantry. One year, a little boy came up and asked him to autograph his hand.

It was another busy year at the Island Food Pantry, a community-wide organization that feeds those in need.

The year proved similar to last year; there were 2,405 visits, which fed 505 family units, including at least 250 children.

Last November, a temporary stimulus to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) expired, leaving 480,000 Massachusetts residents with fewer funds to stretch throughout the month.

The West Tisbury police department, the West Tisbury fire department and Tri-Town ambulance invite everyone to support the Island Food Pantry by dropping off nonperishable packaged food items to the Public Safety Building across from Conroy’s.

As they entered the Serving Hands Food Distribution late last week, Islanders were confronted with a notice: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, commonly known as food stamps, were being cut.

Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center is in the midst of its annual Hunger Drive, which supports the Island Food Pantry. During the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur holidays the Hebrew Center distributed empty grocery bags, courtesy of Cronig’s, to all who attended services. Attached to each bag was a note requesting the bag be filled with nonperishable food items.

It was a tough winter on the Vineyard. One place where this was keenly felt was the Island Food Pantry. Armen Hanjian, food pantry coordinator, said that while the number of people served at the pantry this past winter was slightly down, the pantry spent considerably more than ever before: $106,007, up $10,661.

“Tikkun olam” is a Hebrew phrase meaning to repair or heal the world. On Wednesday, a couple of dozen students from the Hebrew School at Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven did their part to make that a reality. They loaded 128 bags of nonperishable food into vehicles to be transported to the Island Food Pantry located a few blocks away at Christ United Methodist Church.