Port Orchard author Debbie Macomber and her husband, Wayne, recently donated $500,000 to the Bremerton Salvation Army.

The donation was made in part to honor the memory of their son, Dale Macomber, whose body was found in the woods near his Port Orchard home this summer after an apparent suicide.

“I have a personal connection with a distant relative who is a minister with the Salvation Army, now retired, and Wayne and I have always admired their work with the homeless in the Bremerton area,” Debbie Macomber said in a statement released Wednesday. “We are honored to contribute to their mission in honor and memory of our son, Dale.”

The money will go to the Salvation Army’s capital campaign. The nonprofit hopes to raise $3.5 million for remodeling and expanding the Bremerton facility. While a large majority of donations to the campaign are for $100 or less, the organization had held out hope for major contributions of $100,000 or more, said Maj. James Baker, the Salvation Army’s regional director in Bremerton.

Macomber, a best-selling romance novelist who is known to be reclusive when it comes to media attention, said through her publicist that “I would have preferred that our donation remained anonymous.”