115: An inside look at unique offerings of the West’s seven Kroc Centers

Twenty years ago, the first Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center opened in San Diego, California. It was a realization of Joan Kroc’s dream for all people to have recreational, educational and cultural arts opportunities. 

During her final visit to the center before her death, Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, said “The reality of what the Kroc Center has become to San Diego is beyond my imagination.” 

In October 2003, she left a $1.5 billion bequest to The Salvation Army to build similar community centers around the country.

The result is twenty-six Kroc Centers—a network of state-of-the-art community centers that provide children and families with opportunities to both discover and develop their passions and talents within their own neighborhood, just as Joan Kroc dreamed.

To help us celebrate this 20th anniversary of the first Kroc Center in San Diego, I’m joined in this episode by a local representative of each of the seven Kroc Centers in the western U.S. They will introduce themselves and share an inside look at the unique offerings at their Kroc Center. 

So, allow me to introduce to you today the Kroc Centers in San Diego; San Francisco; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Salem, Oregon; Phoenix; Kapolei, Hawaii; and Suisun City, California. 

EPISODE SHOWNOTES: Read more.

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