Oprah Winfrey surprised the crowd at a Cuyahoga Community College scholarship luncheon by offering to match the $600,000 the school expected to raise at the event.

Winfrey is calling the donation a tribute to the two forces that have shaped her life, education and spirituality.

The luncheon was co-sponsored by Winfrey's friend, the Reverend Otis Moss Junior of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church.

Community College President Jerry Sue Thornton says she was caught off guard by Winfrey's donation. Thornton says the school had to turn away students in the fall because there wasn't enough scholarship money.

Andrew Randall heads the college's foundation. He says even before Winfrey's donation, yesterday's event would have been its largest scholarship fund-raiser.

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