This year is the Orcas Island Education Foundation’s 30th Anniversary.

Kathy Youngren, its founder and first board president, remembers,  “As with many parents, wanting the best for our children, we explored sending our boys to a private school. Then we realized we could make the ‘best’ right here on Orcas. We could work to make our public schools better than any private school.”

With the full support of the school board and administration, the foundation created  means for the public and private sectors to work together. In 2007, the school district was looking to make a massive reduction in the teaching staff. OIEF went out to the community and raised more than $250,000 in less than four months.

The district is now in a better financial state and OIEF looks to enhancing the schools’ programming. This year alone, donors have funded the 6th grade’s trip to the Olympic National Park, expanded “Farm to Classroom,” a high school guitar-building class and helped send high school strings to Disneyland for a concert  – and much more.

OIEF is holding its “Food for Thought” dinner and auction on June 28 at Random Howse at 6 p.m. To buy tickets go to www.oief.org.