Supporting Students Today,
Preparing Students for Tomorrow.
The District 54 Education Foundation is an all-volunteer (501)(c)(3) charitable organization dedicated to providing resources and support to District 54 families to ensure the academic and social-emotional success of their children. We cannot expect students to have a willingness to learn if their basic needs are not being met. In District 54, 22% of students qualify for the federal free lunch program, meaning almost 3,500 families have an annual income of less than $40,560 for a family of four. Since its founding in 1987 the Foundation has donated nearly $1 million to fund various initiatives to support these children in our community.
Ongoing efforts rely, in part, on donations from members of the community, like you, who have generously invested in education through the D54 Foundation. While Foundation programs have shifted over the years, its focus has remained the same: supporting our students today and preparing students for tomorrow. The D54 Foundation accomplishes those goals by funding the following. To stay up-to-date with all things D54 Foundation, check out and subscribe to our quarterly newsletter, Foundation Footnotes.
Since its start in March of 2020, the Families in Crisis Fund has distributed more than $173,000 to hundreds of District 54 families. Donations made to the Crisis Fund are used to purchase groceries, utilities, gas and other essential items for families experiencing financial hardships or other difficult situations. It is imperative that this fund continues to grow to meet the needs in our community.
Over the past two years, the D54 Foundation has allocated $60,000 to go toward supporting District 54 students and families through the district’s four food pantries. These pantries are each currently serving about 100 families each month. This money helps the pantry purchase the most needed items in bulk, to provide a more consistent offering to families.