The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers, or Kroc Centers, is a group of community centers run by

the Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

Kroc Center Station, Silver Line, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Kroc Center background

Upon her death in 2003,

Joan Kroc Joan Beverly Kroc ( Mansfield, previously Smith; August 27, 1928 – October 12, 2003), also known as Joni, was an American philanthropist and third wife of McDonald's CEO Ray Kroc. Early life Joan Beverly Mansfield was born on August 27, 19 ...

, the widow of

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

restaurants executive

Ray Kroc Raymond Albert Kroc (October 5, 1902 – January 14, 1984) was an American businessman. He purchased the fast food company McDonald's in 1961 and was its CEO from 1967 to 1973. Kroc is credited with the global expansion of McDonald's, turnin ...

, bequeathed $1.5 billion to The Salvation Army solely for the purpose of establishing centers of opportunity, education, recreation and inspiration throughout the United States to be known as "Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers". Prior to her death, $87 million was donated to build and endow the first Kroc Center in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

on what was a grocery store that was abandoned in the early 1990s and other empty land. The money was donated in 1998 and the center opened in June 2002. Currently, it is home to the San Diego Wildcats of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

's current incarnation. The Kroc Center in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

broke ground in June 2006, and the Kroc Center in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, formally known as The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Center: A Center for Worship and Education, broke ground in 2007. The San Francisco Kroc Center received $53 million.

References

Locations
etrieved on 15 October 2006
San Francisco Kroc center
etrieved on 15 October 2006
The Kroc Center Coeur d'Alene
etrieved on 19 December 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers The Salvation Army Organizations established in 2003