The Salvation Army Kroc Center

Specialties

The Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Salvation Army Kroc Center inspires children, adults, and families to discover their potential through positive experiences in health, education, the arts and spiritual enrichment. The Kroc Center’s award winning facility is open to members and the general public, and can be rented for special events and meetings. The Kroc Center covers a six square block area and includes a Fitness Deck, Aquatics Center, Gymnasium Complex, Assembly Hall, Fellowship Hall, Education Center, Learning Center, outdoor Sports Field Complex, Festival Plaza and commercial kitchen with a full-​time executive chef.

History

Established in 2010.

In 1998, Mrs. Joan Kroc, widow of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, donated $ 90 million to The Salvation Army to build a comprehensive community center in San Diego, California which was completed in 2001. Her goal was to create a center, supported in part by the community, where children and families would be exposed to different people, activities and arts that would otherwise be beyond their reach.

When Mrs. Kroc passed away in October 2003, she left $ 1.5 billion — much of her estate — to The Salvation Army, by far the largest charitable gift ever given to the Army, and the largest single gift given to any single charity at one time. The money was designated to build a series of state-​of-​the-​art Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers nationwide patterned after the San Diego center. To date, 22 centers are open and operating, including Omaha’s Kroc Center, which was the 6^th center to open.