Disadvantaged 4-year-olds wouldn’t be able to attend all-day preschool if the Lawrence Schools Foundation didn’t chip in about $140,000 each year, a district administrator said.

“Our parents aren’t the parents who are out there having the financial means to pay for expensive child care,” said Cris Anderson, principal at East Heights Early Childhood Family Center.

The foundation kicked off a fund-raising campaign last week with a goal of raising $28,000 by Dec. 31.

The foundation gives half of its annual budget each year to East Heights to help fund its preschool program for 4-year-olds who come from poor and disadvantaged families.

Without the foundation’s contributions, East Heights could only offer a half-day program.

“Our full-day program allows us to take all the many things we want to expose children to,” Anderson said. “It allows us to extend the learning that might have taken place in the half-day session into a full-day session.”

More than 6,800 fund-raising information packets were mailed last week to families of children in the Lawrence school district.

The foundation is optimistic it will continue to be able to help support the East Heights program, said executive director Susan Esau.

“We will meet our goal,” she said. “We want to provide as much support as we can through private gifts to make sure that every child in Lawrence has the same opportunity to learn.”