Sunriver Resort has announced the sale of two lots in the Caldera Development near Sunriver. The proceeds of these sales, approximately $250,000, will be dedicated to fulfilling the resort’s pledge to the Central Oregon Community College Foundation’s culinary campaign.
“This is the most recent example of Sunriver’s support of higher education and their strong relationship with the college,” said Jim Weaver, executive director of the COCC Foundation. “In addition, they have funded a Foundation scholarship for decades and have  sponsored a table at the Meal of the Year scholarship fundraising event.”
Sunriver Resort has a large culinary program, so there was an obvious interest in supporting the new culinary center. “We employ more than 50 chefs and other culinary staff, so when the Foundation announced plans for a new culinary center in 2008, we were naturally attracted to supporting it,” said Tom O’Shea, managing director  of Sunriver Resort. “With the soft economy and tight resources, we were unable to immediately complete our $250,000 pledge. The donation of the two lots allowed us to use assets that we owned as a show of our commitment to COCC, which has now been fulfilled by the sale of these two lots.”
The COCC Foundation’s culinary capital campaign raised $3.5 million for the construction of the Jungers Culinary Center. The center, which opened September, is home to COCC’s Cascade Culinary Institute. The state-of-the-art teaching facility includes two multipurpose kitchens, a baking kitchen and a demonstration kitchen, plus the dining lab/restaurant, Elevation, which is open to the public.
“The Cascade Culinary Institute is very appreciative of this gift,” said Chef Gene Fritz, director of the CCI. “Committed industry partners like Sunriver Resort are the reason that CCI is able to provide such a high quality culinary education to COCC students and the regional work force.”

(COCC press releases)