Gloria Peel, president of the Foundation for Wareham Education, compared Ella's Wood Burning Oven Restaurant to a school cafeteria on Tuesday night.

The restaurant was packed full of supporters and honorees of the Foundation for Wareham Education. The foundation provides small grants to teachers to enhance and enrich students' educational experience in areas that school funding falls short. The organization was founded in 2009 and began awarding grants last year.

"We want to try to reach as many kids as possible," said Peel, a former Wareham Middle School principal.

During her speech about the grant recipients during the event, which was also a wine-tasting fundraiser for the foundation, Peel quoted the proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child" and said the people at Ella's who supported the Foundation for Wareham Education were that village.

Eight grants, totaling almost $2,500, were awarded to Wareham Public Schools teachers, including Jennifer Strazdes, Wendy Brogioli, Kathleen Lyons, Peter Zwahlen, Bonnie Lasorsa, Pamela Schulter, Amy Dion, and Marie Cavicchi.

Dion, a Wareham High School art teacher, said the field trip she planned for the students to see a production of "Peter Pan" in Boston in early December would not have been possible without the grant from the foundation, adding that it was wonderful to have something like that in place to give kids opportunities that they wouldn't have had otherwise.

Cavicchi, a paraprofessional at Wareham High School, echoed similar sentiments. Her grant will fund an upcoming trip to New Bedford so special education students can see "A Christmas Carol."

"We're going to work on the difference between going to the movies and going to the theatre," Cavicchi said, explaining why a field trip like that was good for the students.

Strazdes, an adjustment counselor and social worker for West Wareham Academy, applied for a grant that will be used to publish a cookbook featuring recipes from students, teachers, and community members. The cookbook will be sold with the profits benefiting the school. It will also be used in the school to teach the students how to cook.

"I'm so grateful for [the grant]," Strazdes said. "It's really going to help our school."

Last school year the Foundation awarded grants to three teachers, including Nancy Lennon, the art teacher at Minot Forest Elementary. Lennon's grant allowed her to help paint positive statements around the school.

Lennon said the teacher-friendly grant was a great opportunity and she was pleased that even more teachers were awarded this year.

"These are the people who support us every day," she said of the Foundation for Wareham Education.