In a recession, help sometimes comes from unexpected quarters, and leaders of one North Central Florida college were shocked by the size of a gift they received today (June 16).

There are now plans to move the Central Florida Community College Levy County campus to a permanent location: north of Chiefland. The move can now happen because of a $2.5 million donation.

After teaching for 45 years, a Levy County man has made the largest donation ever to higher education in Levy County. Jack Wilkinson is the man who made the large donation because of his strong belief in education and his ties to the community.

This was not his first donation to CFCC.

"In November, he made a donation of $25,000 and he said, 'I'm not quite sure I'm finished yet,'" said Lisa Lombardo, director of the CFCC Development Foundation. "And obviously he wasn't."

Mr. Jack, as the locals call him, only had one request for the meeting...to draw out the surprise as long as possible.

"He was very excited today," said Joan Stearns, vice president for CFCC Institutional Advancement. "We went down and had lunch with him today and gave him his new CFCC shirt, and it's really a blessing for him, for us."

Loyann Mann, who donated most of the land for the school with her husband, Jack, said she just found out about Wilkinson's donation Tuesday. She also said she is still in shock because Mr. Jack once made only $68 a month as a schoolteacher. But he later invested in property.

Even though Mr. Jack wasn't able to make it to the meeting, he was still the highlight of the day.

The new campus will be located along U.S. Highway 19, north of Chiefland. It will be the first permanent college campus in Levy County.