Thirty years ago, the Oxford School District Foundation (OSDF) was started by parents and community members who wanted to make an impact on education in the Oxford School District.

OSDF planned to hold a “thirtieth birthday bash” on the practice field behind Oxford Middle School on Friday, but due to weather, they had to cancel the festivities.

They did not, however, let a little rain take away their right to celebrate. Instead of the party, OSDF gave out cake and cupcakes at the football game.

Today, the foundation awards thousands of dollars in grants to teachers to enhance the learning experience.

OSDF starts each school year by recruiting and renewing memberships. Every cent of the money gathered from these memberships is distributed among grants.

“The way we do this is that the teachers write grant proposals, and they say I need ‘x’ amount of money to add this element to my classroom. Then, we review those proposals, and then we award that money out. The proposals can be anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to thousands of dollars,” Allyson Best, the president of OSDF, said.

Last year alone, the 186-member foundation awarded $55,000 in grants to the district. At OHS, this money was put into buying new equipment for the science department, cameras for photography, and countless other needs for different departments.

“We like to think it’s transformative to the schools,” Best said.

Science teacher Rose Nash agrees with this statement.

“We cannot do what we do without them. It’s basically our wish list to make our classes better,” Nash said.

OSDF plans to continue to grant teachers’ wishes and make an even larger impact on the district. They hope to increase membership so they can bring more money into the district.

“The more members that we have, the bigger impact we can make,” Best said.

The goal for their thirtieth year is to nearly double membership to provide even more grants than the $55,000 they were able to pour into the district last year.

“This is our thirtieth anniversary, so we would like to get 300 members, because if 186 people can raise $55,000, what could 300 parents, families, grandparents, businesses, all of those people, do to really keep the district the best in the state?” Best said.

The students and teachers of Oxford School District owe a big thank you to the men and women of the Oxford School District Foundation, who make the enhancement of their education possible.