WHY WOULD THE rIGHT COMPREHEND CHRISTIANITY?:

[The Rev. Vincent "Chip" Seadale]  and other members of the Martha's Vineyard Island Clergy Association did what clergy do when a crisis happens: They jumped in to lend a hand.

"We just decided we were going to make it work and then hope for the best," said Seadale in a phone interview.

For two nights, St. Andrew's played host to the Venezuelans, providing meals and a place to stay at the parish house, which hosts a shelter four nights a week during the winter. The church hall is already equipped with cots, a large kitchen, showers and laundry for the shelter.

Other churches and community members sent food, clothes and other supplies -- while the Martha's Vineyard Community Fund collected funds to support the Venezuelans. Immigration lawyers and other volunteers showed up to help them figure out where to go next. Many were in the U.S. to seek asylum and have contacts here but needed help connecting with them.

The Rev. Janet Newton, a minister at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Martha's Vineyard, said that clergy, like other community leaders and residents of the island, had no idea the migrants were coming.

"Ironically," she said, "we were prepared, even though we had no warning."

The Vineyard, she said, is often seen as a playground for the rich and powerful. Former President Obama and other celebrities -- television host David Letterman, journalist Diane Sawyer and film director Spike Lee -- own homes on the island, she said, and that shapes how outsiders see the Vineyard.

That's not the whole story. In the off-season, she said, many people struggle. Affordable housing is hard to come by, and at times, folks who work seasonal jobs can't make ends meet. As a geographically isolated community, Newton said, year-round residents have learned to take care of each other.

"That's probably a bit of a surprise to the people who sent the planes here," she said. "They didn't understand how our community operated or that we could be prepared for this. Hospitality matters here."

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