This does my heart good

Martha's Vineyard can seem precious, just a little too pretty and bucolic to be true. But the people who choose to live on this New England outpost have heart. When bully boy Florida governor Ron DeSantis shipped to them a group of bewildered Venezuelan refugees, people knew what to do. In two days, new friends were made and clothed in the colors of the local high school. The state of Massachusetts then stepped up to do government's job, moving the people to a base on Cape Cod where they can be processed with access to immigration attorneys.

Photos by way of the Martha's Vineyard Times, all by Rich Saltzberg except as noted.

A young refugee embraces new found friend Sara Piazza.

Like most everyone else who leaves the island, the migrants departed on the ferry. Photo by Abigail Rosen

Nice to know that some people in these dis-United States still know how to behave when confronted with poverty and pain.

Michelle Norris gets the Island.

Yes, there are Land Rovers and yachts here, but the Vineyard is primarily an island of farms and fishermen, a year-round population that lives close to the land and in many cases works hard to make ends meet.

It’s an island that seesaws between overwork and underemployment. It’s a place where everything — gas, food, housing, toothpaste, you name it — costs more than it does on the mainland. It’s a place where 1 in 6 year-round residents is a registered user of the Island Food Pantry and one-third of schoolchildren receive free or reduced-price lunch.

It’s a place where organized groups go “gleaning” each week, picking produce left behind by farming machines so it can be used in the food pantry. ...

The Vineyard says to MAGA Republicans, cruelty to the weak is not who we are.