116: How the first-ever Kroc Center came to be with Lt. Colonels Cindy and Tim Foley

In our last episode, you heard from each of the seven Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers across the western U.S., from San Diego to Salem, Oregon, to Kapolei, Hawaii.

It was 20 years ago that the first Kroc Center opened in San Diego, California. The 12-acre, 132,000 square-foot facility was a realization of Joan Kroc’s dream for all people to have recreational, educational and cultural arts opportunities.  

And just under a year before it opened, Tim and Cindy Foley were appointed its administrators, just as the foundation was being poured.

Today, Lt. Colonel Cindy Foley is Divisional Commander of The Salvation Army in the Northwest Division and Lt. Colonel Tim Foley is the Divisional Leader for Officer Development.

Back then, they were given the job to create the program and business structure—really, the template for what the Kroc Centers would become across the nation.

The Foleys are on the show today to give us a window into that year. To share the stories of working things out, what it was like to know Joan Kroc and how it felt to open the center on that day in June 2002.

Plus how the experience changed them and their ministry.

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