Visit the Martha’s Vineyard Ice Arena during a hockey game or figure skating show and you might find yourself in a packed house of up to 400 people. One year after its renovation, the "Barnes - Swartz Rink" is thriving, impacting more Island youth through ice activities. Visitors and users continue to give enthusiastic reviews about how much they love the renovation and are enjoying the ice.

This year, following a three-year partnership, the Ice Arena and YMCA of Martha’s Vineyard merged organizations, establishing increased sustainability for the future. We increased ice activities for infants to college ages, including youth and high school hockey, figure skating, learn to skate programs, stroller skating, birthday parties, school field trips, drop-in hockey and skating. We now have four part-time positions for teens in the Pro Shop, and three full-time positions for young adults. This summer, we added a youth hockey league, five hockey camps, and a hockey skills night with Cape Cod Hockey, providing positive activities for youth and high school boys and girls. We have increased our collaborations with other Island non-profits as well. In collaboration with the West Tisbury Library, this summer we offered a Skate and Read Day free to the community with Bruins Mascot Blades.

Thanks to your incredible generosity providing a first-class ice skating facility, we are able to continue an important Island legacy of providing ice activities to our community and impacting more people as we expand our organization.