Oregon Coast Community Action was hoping to hear good news regarding one of its grant requests last Friday.

But not this good.

The local nonprofit network has set out to build a mixed-use campus in Coos Bay to help feed, educate and support people in need. The plan calls for a new Head Start facility, a food warehouse and a child/family resource center.

The group solicited a $1 million grant from the Ford Family Foundation and knew the decision would be made following the foundation’s end-of-year meeting Nov. 30. Mary Schoen-Clark, chief executive officer of Community Action, was driving back from Bandon Bounty Days when she received word that the grant was approved.

But the foundation’s program officer, Erik Jacob, had more to say.

“He said ‘Wait, wait, wait! I have more to tell you,’” said Schoen-Clark.

Schoen-Clark thought he would tell her they couldn’t have the money for a year or some other stipulation.

Instead, he said the foundation’s board had agreed to bestow an additional $500,000 on the project.

“It was one of those moments in your life when everything stands still,” Schoen-Clark recalled. “It’s really an amazing voice of support, an amazing pat on the back.”

Originally, Community Action had approached the foundation with a request of $525,000 to help build the food warehouse. When Jacob visited the project site in September, he encouraged Community Action to add an additional $500,000 for the Head Start building.

“It is unusual for a private foundation to suggest that a grantee request more money, so (we) took this as a good sign,” said Margaret Barber, the group’s development director.

Norman Smith, president of the Ford Family Foundation, said the board readily approved the $525,000 for the warehouse and $500,000 for the Head Start building. After weighing other grant proposals, the board returned to the Community Action application and decided to add an additional $500,000 for the Head Start building construction.

Smith said the goal of the project as well as Community Action’s solid reputation led to the foundation’s decision to award additional funding.

“It’s generally uncommon but the board thought it was a really good investment in the community,” he said. “It was an extra, unexpected, quite wonderful thing.”

One factor that may have influenced the decision was the community’s backing of the project, said Barber. More than 2,000 residents signed a petition endorsing the effort, while more than $33,000 in private donations has been collected. She also said Jacob was impressed by the show of support at a September site visit, where he was greeted by Coos Bay Mayor Jeff McKeown and Coos County Commissioner Nikki Whitty.

Even with the additional funding, Community Action isn’t ready to break ground at the intersection of LaClair Street and Thomas Avenue.

The group’s intention is to build the Head Start building first, then the food warehouse, then the resource center.

Combined with previous grants, the group has raised about $1.9 million for the Head Start building. Community Action still plans to acquire a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help pay for the first phase. But the unexpected boon means less debt for the group.

“The lower amount of debt we have to carry the better,” said Barber.

Barring unforeseen delays, Community Action plans to have the new Head Start building in place by August 2009. The federally-funded preschool for low-income families currently leases much of its classroom space in the Coos Bay area. The new facility, which has eight classrooms, would reduce that problem.

The food warehouse isn’t slated to be completed until 2010, though Schoen-Clark said some of the $525,000 will help pay for construction of a food distribution center in Myrtle Point. Work on the 5,000-square-foot facility will begin soon, she said. Both the warehouse and distribution center will provide storage space for frozen and perishable foods, none of which is currently available to the South Coast Food Share program. It also will greatly expand space for nonperishable items.

“Our goal is to increase the amount of food throughout (Coos and Curry) counties from 1.5 million pounds of food per year to 3 million pounds of food per year,” said Rollie Lobsinger, the Food Share director.

Schoen-Clark expects all facets of constructing the Coos Bay campus will cost about $7 million. More grant applications are pending, but individual donations are continuing to be accepted at the Community Action offices, as well as at Kozy Kitchen restaurants and the Autumn House Restaurant in North Bend.

After all, it is unlikely another $500,000 gift will materialize.

“It’s unprecedented,” Schoen-Clark said. “I’ve been in this business for 20 years, and I never received an extra $500,000.”