The Meyer Memorial Trust has announced a $200,000 grant to Southwestern Oregon Community College for construction and equipment at the new Curry Campus in Brookings.

The staff had received the keys to the new building earlier this month, but officials had been clear that funds were still needed to finish the project.

“I was doing the happy dance around the office,” said Curry County Dean Janet Pretti, who has guided the project. “It’s exciting.”

“It means we can do it right and we can get on to resolving some of the issues we were putting off,” she said. “I was focused on getting the building ready for students.

“Now we can do all those things that I had to prioritize to the bottom. They are nice and they are needed, but they were not directly related to instruction.”

In early December, the time of the last large donation to the project, officials said about $200,000 was still needed for furnishings, fixtures and equipment.

The campus opens Jan. 3 by hosting SWOCC’s winter term staff training, classes start in the building on Jan. 9, and the dedication is set for Jan. 27. 

The Curry Campus is a two-story, 26,785-square-foot building with a $6 million construction cost. The building is designed to offer a variety of community college programs, including nursing, medical assistant and emergency medical technician training.

There are 11 classrooms, a science laboratory, a computer lab, support areas for tutoring and study, a commons and student lounge. The building can serve as a community hub for short-term training and conferences. 

The Meyer Memorial Trust donation is the second largest private cash gift for the project to date. Outside of the U.S. Borax donation of the 10-acre site for the project, the largest private gift has been $300,000 from the Ford Family Foundation.

The trust was created from the estate of Fred G. Meyer, the founder of the Fred Meyer chain. He opened his first coffee shop in Portland, and later invested all his funds in an “all-package” grocery store. At the time of his death 50 years later, the Fred Meyer chain still focused on “one-stop shopping” and had annual sales exceeding $1 billion.

The Meyer Memorial Trust grants to SWOCC was just one of 27 grants valued at $4.1 million approved by the trust at its December meeting. Of that total, $1 million was awarded to provide emergency food, rent and utility assistance to families in need.

“While we have seen some promising signs recently, we know that economic challenges are still taking a big toll on many Oregon families,” said Doug Stamm, the trust’s chief executive officer.

“In fact, Oregon has the dubious distinction of having the highest rate among the 50 states of households where children lack consistent access to food, he said. “We’ve decided conditions require us to go beyond our customary grantmaking and are directing another $1 million this month to help families with food, rent and utility costs this winter.

“We hope our awards will encourage generous donations from others this season,” added Stamm.