MANCHESTER — Some city children who are chronically late or absent from school are getting some help.

Two hundred alarm clocks have been donated to the school district to be handed out by counselors and others working with the habitually truant.

The alarm clocks are the result of one of the first major fundraising efforts by the Manchester Foundation for Education, a group founded about a year ago to advance education district-wide. Organizers envisioned a program that would operate across the city, its work much like that done at individual schools by their Parent Teacher Organizations

“It was born out of the fact that there were five of us who were frustrated about the process,” said Stacey Weigler, vice chairman of the foundation. “There was a business that wanted to donate to the schools but no avenue to do that.”

In particular, a group parents wanted to reach out to the local high-tech community to try to duplicate the upgrades to the graphic arts and computer programs seen at Memorial High School to the city’s two other high schools.

The adoption of statewide property tax limits in California and then in Massachusetts led to the emergence of foundations that support the educational mission of their communities, according to Manchester School Committee member Kathy Staub, who serves as president of foundation.

“There was a flowering of educational foundations so people in the business community, people involved in the future and the economy of the community, who might not necessarily live there, could use their resources to help improve education,” Staub said.

School Superintendent Thomas Brennan was an early supporter and met with Staub and other MFE organizers to share his experiences with a similar foundation in another community

The Manchester foundation will concentrate on broadly-based projects, rather than offering specific grants for individual classroom projects. The alarm clock campaign was intended as a kickoff. The intends to tackle other projects that include getting the city’s high tech business community more involved in the schools, as donors, and providing students with practical experience and career advice. Professional development activities for teachers that extend into areas such as parental engagement and dealing with children in poverty are also planned.

It takes money, and foundation members are working to develop a broad base in Manchester, partly by recruiting an active board of directors.

“We want to be a bridge between community and the school district and leverage community resources to improve education,” Staub said.”

Already, donations are coming from unexpected places.

The wait staff at a local restaurant made a surprise donation recently, a check for $515 from a group of local workers.

“At Mr. Mac’s, they pooled their tips and made a donation,” Weigler said. “It just arrived in the mailbox.”

The gift was the product of a tradition at the restaurant in which a charity is selected monthly by employees for donations out of their tip money.

Foundation leaders decided to intensify the outreach campaign after hearing of the program to encourage donations to the schools.

“We’re ready to go,” Staub said. “Right now, it’s four moms and a dad on a mission.”

The Manchester Foundation for Education website is mfenh.org.