First-class recreation centers in low-income neighborhoods — dozens of them, scattered around the nation. That was the vision of Joan Kroc, billionaire philanthropist and heiress to the McDonald’s fortune of her husband, Ray. When she died in 2003, Joan Kroc stunned the Salvation Army when she left what amounted to $1.
This image provided by The Chronicle of Philanthropy shows Jeff Koonce, member service coordinator at the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Biloxi, Miss., in Feb. 2023. Koonce said he loves the reaction of former residents when they return to the low-income neighborhood and see the gleaming, 52,000 square-foot, state-of-the art recreation palace. First-class recreation centers in low-income neighborhoods — dozens of them, scattered around the nation.
Kroc’s will specified that the group was to divide the money equally among its four U.S. territories. Half was to be earmarked for the construction of recreation centers, with the other half deposited into endowments to support them. None of the bequest was to be used for existing programs, nor was the Army to convert existing buildings.
Witnessing kids aimlessly milling about on city streets sparked the idea of a safe gathering place. Kroc herself had grown up poor in St. Paul, Minnesota, and, as a young wife and mother, supported her daughter and first husband with her masterful piano playing. In the two decades since Kroc’s bequest, quantifying the precise impact on all of the communities served by the Kroc centers is difficult. Because the Salvation Army is a church, it does not have to report its finances, and the precise operating budgets of the centers are not public, nor is their financial health.
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