Local officials, social services and community members quickly set up a shelter at an Edgartown church, complete with beds, food, water, medical care and even a play area for children Wednesday night.
People are continuing to provide support for the approximately 50 Venezuelan migrants flown by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts on Wednesday.
Emergency management officials on the island provided an update Thursday morning, saying they continue to provide shelter, food and care to the individuals who arrived on the island Wednesday.
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"A coalition of Vineyard towns, community-based, and nonprofit groups are assisting in this effort," they said. "We will continue to work very closely with our state partners, who have pledged support and resources for any unmet needs that we may have. As we do with any shelter operation, we are focused on meeting the immediate needs of people we are sheltering, and engaged in contingency planning if the situation changes."
Massachusetts’ Gov. Charlie Baker said he is supporting officials on the island after learning of the situation.
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"The Baker-Polito Administration is in touch with local officials regarding the arrival of migrants in Martha's Vineyard," Baker representative Terry MacCormack said in a statement Wednesday. "At this time, short-term shelter services are being provided by local officials, and the Administration will continue to support those efforts."
Martha's Vineyard officials also expressed gratitude to the many local and neighboring community members who have reached out with offers of support and said all resource inquiries should be emailed to EMD@dcomeau.
Additionally, Democratic state Rep. Dylan Fernandes, who represents Martha's Vineyard in the Legislature, said anyone looking to help out can make a donation to Martha's Vineyard Community Services at https://www.mvcommunityservices.org/
Fernandes arrived on Martha's Vineyard on Wednesday and has been sharing photos showing how residents have been assisting the migrants.
"Some of these people, I've been told, traveled months just to get to the border and then were sent here in an airplane with very little information about where they're going or why they were going there," Fernandes said.
