Kroc Centers

Hi, this is Bernie Dake. Welcome to the Salvation Army's Words of Life.

Welcome back to Words of Life. I'm Bernie Dake, and as we continue our highlight reel series, today we're going to focus on one of the most unique Salvation Army ministries and programs, our Kroc Centers. These amazing facilities are the result of a collaboration with philanthropist and friend of the Salvation Army, Joan Kroc.

You may know her as the widow of the co-founder of McDonald's. I had the privilege of meeting Mrs. Kroc back in 1999. She was a guest at our National Advisory Organizations Conference, which is something that our National Advisory Board hosts every few years, where they get to share best practices and highlight programs that are happening all around the country, and encourage other advisory organizations members to come alongside the Salvation Army and do the most good, if you will. Back in January of 2018, we were joined by the Southern Territorial Director of Kroc Centers, Steve Carpenter. He shared some of the overall mission and purpose of these centers. We're then going to hear a virtual tour we did of the Memphis Kroc Center back in October of 2018 as well. As you'll hear in today's episode, these centers are a beacon of hope in each of the communities they serve. And while the current state of facilities like these look very different because of the response to COVID-19, we hope this episode encourages you to support these amazing centers and the work of the Salvation Army all around the world.

We have with us now Steve Carpenter. My title is Territorial Kroc Director of Operations in support of our divisions that support our Kroc Centers. And this means he oversees the seven Kroc Centers located in the USA's Southern Territory. Which leads us to the question, what is a Kroc Center?

That's a good question. I'd probably say go visit one. They're hard to explain, but in a Kroc Center, to explain the amenities in most of the Kroc Centers, there are indoor and or outdoor swimming pools, fitness centers, basketball courts, performing arts theaters, worship space, event rental space, soccer fields. These are just some of the amenities provided by a Kroc Center.

But Steve says that to describe one of these centers, you need to understand that it's... It's really about relationships and people entering the doors, building relationships with the people who are there, whether it's fitness instructors, people they're working out with. We had a group exercise instructor.

She had back problems, and so she was out and she couldn't, and she had small children. And her class of people who came just to do the group exercise ended up babysitting for her, bringing food for her, making sure she was taken care of when she was out. And so not only is it people who come in the doors that are ministered to and cared for, but it's the people who work there. And that really provides a great atmosphere where it's not, I work here, I'm serving you, but I work here because I love it.

And the people who come in the doors are serving me as well. The first Kroc Center was completed in 2001? Yeah, the history of Kroc Centers is a great story. Ray Kroc was the founder of McDonald's restaurants, and he died in the 80s, but his wife Joan Kroc was a great philanthropist and lived in San Diego and provided funding to build the first Kroc Center while she was still alive.

And upon her death, she had left a billion and a half dollars to the Salvation Army specifically for building the Salvation Army, Ray and Joan Kroc Core Community Centers throughout the country. We can help bring our city together by declaring our love to all of its children and show them the faith that we have in their future. Beyond state-of-the-art fitness rooms and pools, Kroc Centers offer a range of classes from basic computer skills, cooking classes, and even citizenship courses. Joan Kroc wanted Kroc Centers to be a beacon of hope and a place where not only lower income or lower educated people were served, but where all demographics were served. And the idea is that to be a place where all those demographics of people felt comfortable coming and participating in the programs rather than being a dividing line. There's a beacon of hope award that's given out annually at a Kroc Center and it was named for Chris Hernandez. He is a personal trainer and there was a retired rescue worker who wanted to just exercise and he went, but then he found out that he had kidney failure and Chris Hernandez ended up donating a kidney to him.

And so they built, obviously, a lifelong friendship together and come from very different backgrounds and very different people. But the award is actually the Chris Hernandez Beacon of Hope Award and that's given every year to individuals who work at Kroc Centers who have really gone above and beyond what their job description says as they do ministry and care for people. What I love about the Kroc Center is that first and foremost we're a church and we are founded by the Salvation Army.

And the Kroc Center was strategically located in Memphis and the other metropolitan areas around the country in a place that really meets the need of that market. So we're situated in a place where we can meet members or potential members or meet our community in ways that we can spread mission and we can spread love and facilitate that through education, recreation, fitness, worship, arts. So our challenge center was initially built for team building and escape rooms and parties and things like that.

Now it's more utilized by our youth. So we have our after school programs that facilitate or coordinate in the rooms right here as well as second floor. And so they'll do things like homework help and Bible study. They'll also have fun and play video games and board games and that sort of thing.

So it's a pretty fun center. After school lets out, being that we are housed right next door to a middle school, we'll have a ton of kids come within probably the next 40 minutes. You'll see they'll be very active here. We've had so many parents who call and say my kid has to go here. What can I do for my kid to go here?

I need to get him off the streets. So that's very important to us and we do offer a scholarship program for kids who need to come and need a place to be and we service everybody who walks in those doors. If they want to be there, we find a way for them to be there. Nearly over 84% of our users come solely for fitness and so we have 11,000 members and we've been ranked the best fitness center in Memphis every year since we've been open. So we offer TRX and boxing, different studio classes like yoga and bar.

Of our 45 people just on staff in the fitness department, over 20 of them were recruited from members. So they have a Croc story and now they inspire other Croc members. Because of the kind of staff that God's put here, there is a sweet spirit about this place that you just can't escape. We really touch the faith aspect and spirituality in almost everything that we do at the Croc. In fitness classes, whether it's from children's programs or seniors programs or anywhere in between, we take moments of prayer or moments of mindfulness and just with children we kind of meet them where they're at and speak to things that relate to them and what they're experiencing and just show unconditional love that's exemplified in the Bible.

So we just meet our members where they're at and I find that when people start becoming more aware of their body or conditioning their physical health that that transposes into their mental health, spiritual health. So this is our fitness center, then our freeway area and our other machines. All of our studio classes will be housed in here and then some of our silver sneakers, smaller classes are housed in here. This space in front of our basketball courts used to be considered a gym lobby and then they converted this again because we had such a vast need for fitness space. But this is our space that we use primarily for our group fitness and then we also have a sport court, indoor soccer area that we use leagues and then sports training in there.

I've heard it said that workout equipment is one of the best equalizers because on one treadmill is going to be someone who may have a job that is packing boxes or moving things and then you have someone who's the CEO. The Kroc Center of Memphis is located on what used to be the fairgrounds of Memphis so it's very centrally located. If you look at a map of Memphis and you kind of like just point right at the center you're going to be really close to where the Kroc Center is. And right next door to it we have an area that is very poor, impoverished. We have an area that's very hip.

We have an area that's very historic. So right around the Kroc Center you hit every type of people and you see that depicted in the hallways. I think one of the great things about having a Kroc Center is that it offers a whole new avenue of ministry and opportunities for our people and we have the opportunity to go and help people get the skills they need.

We have a job training skills program in Augusta for adults who did not have any job skills they can get forklift CPR OSHA type trainings through us that we offer. But the great thing about having a Kroc again is that it offers a whole new avenue and aspect to be able to reach a whole new demographic of people that we couldn't reach before. Our aquatic center is utilized by a lot of families. We have a lazy river, hot tub area, lap lanes and a splash pad outside. This hall houses our performing arts partner, Stage Door Productions. They'll do all of our theater shows. All of our productions are free for youth to attend or to be involved with, with the exception of our summer camps. And free also for community members to watch as audience members. So it's really neat to integrate performing arts in a demographic that I would say may not have such accessible arts programs.

Placing the Kroc Center in that area right on the edge of downtown is very accessible to everybody. And we do have that privilege of being able to see people in a treadmill. You know, a lot of people don't even notice it, but yeah, you'll have your CEO or executive working out right next to them. You have a person on full scholarship and to see the conversation and interaction that takes place there. And that's one of our goals is to leverage those opportunities. We've got these people that traditionally don't associate with one another in the building under the same roof.

How can we leverage that to build better, stronger communities? The Kroc Center is a beacon of hope in each of its communities and it serves the community in the best way possible. Hey, special thanks to everyone involved in making this story possible.

Rihanna Hanley, Morgan Shiu, Katie Veach, Chris Hall and Captain Phillip Canning. If you'd like to learn more or to find out if there is a Kroc Center near you, visit kroccenter.org and that's spelled K-R-O-C center.org. The Salvation Army's mission, doing the most good, means helping people with material and spiritual needs. You become a part of this mission every time you give to the Salvation Army. Visit salvationarmyusa.org to offer your support.

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