OTISFIELD – The Oxford Hills Community Exchange recently received a $782 grant from the Oxford County Fund of the Maine Community Foundation to support a drumming project at the Otisfield Community School.

The project was originally conceived by the school’s fourth grade and music teachers to encourage students to become more actively engaged in their classrooms.

Teachers and parents have remarked that the project has had a positive effect on the students’ self-confidence and self-esteem.

The Education Exchange, a 501(c)(3) formed in 1993, has a mission to improve the education and raise aspirations of the students in the Oxford Hills School District by involving the community.

The grant monies allowed the funding of additional instruments for the students and a recent African drumming performance by Annegret Baier.

A statewide organization with offices in Ellsworth and Portland, the Maine Community Foundation works in partnership with donors and community groups to strengthen Maine.

For more information, visit the foundation’s Web site at www.minecf.org or call 1-877-700-6800.