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Kroc Center Atlanta
967 Dewey Street
Atlanta, GA 30310
Phone: 404.638.7195
Fax: 404.638.7207
Atlanta
The Salvation Army Kroc Center Atlanta is a 53,500 square-foot worship, arts, education, and recreation facility located in the Pittsburgh community of Atlanta, Ga. The Kroc Center Atlanta will serve as a beacon of hope and a place of refuge for the spiritually, creatively, and physically hungry members and community alike.
A Dream Realized: Southern Territory's First Kroc Center Dedicated in Atlanta
Southern Spirit Staff
Friday, Oct. 31 in Atlanta's innercity Pittsburgh community was a time and place for existing dreams to be realized and for new dreams to be birthed. The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center was dedicated after more than four years of planning, preparation and construction.
The Kroc center, adjacent to Evangeline Booth College in south Atlanta, is the first to be dedicated in the USA Southern Territory and the third in the nation. It is one of nine planned for the territory. About 30 Kroc centers are projected nationwide. The centers are the result of an unprecedented $1.5 billion donation made in early 2004 by Joan Kroc, the widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc. Her intent was to provide funding for the establishment of centers that would create opportunities for economically disadvantaged people to access people, activities and arts that they might not otherwise encounter.
"This is a place of dreams," said Commissioner Max Feener in his dedicatory address. "Mrs. Joan Kroc had a dream, and what a dream it was!
Joan looked to The Salvation Army and gave it the largest single gift in our 143-year history. That brought our dream to life."
Feener referenced the experiences of athletes Julius Erving, Emmitt Smith and Sugar Ray Leonard, as well a singer Kenny Rogers, all of whom were influenced by The Salvation Army through their involvement in Boys &
Girls Clubs and community centers."The same dreams that they realized can certainly happen again, only this time here in Atlanta. It was Joan's dream that this center become a place where the people of this Pittsburgh community might find fertile ground for their own dreams; a place ofdignitaries. "When I first heard the term ‘Kroc center,' I asked myself, ‘What the heck is a Kroc center?'" Marion Platt told the audience at the open-air dedication. "So, like any web-savvy person, I googled it." As Platt learned, the Kroc center will offer the the Pittsburgh community a variety of programs and services in a $21-million, 53,000-square-foot fa
cility. "Kroc Atlanta will serve to provide economically disadvantaged men, women and children with spiritual, social service, recreational and cultural activities that help to build character, stabilize families and restore confidence in Atlanta's Pittsburgh community," Platt said.
The center includes a gymnasium, outdoor play areas for infants and toddlers, a cardio fitness area, life enhancement and family support programs, a performing arts theater, vocal/instrumental/dance instruction, computer lab, Internet-based library, meeting/event space, pottery room and elevated walking track. Following the dedication, the more than 400 attendees were given a tour of the center, which is scheduled to open in early December.
The center's year-round programs will include a mix of the Army's worship, character-building, literacy and homeless service initiatives and an array of new performing arts, education and senior programs.
"Let us nurture our dreamers, provide them a place where limits are lifted and commitment is rewarded," Feener said. "Where hard work meets opportunity, where setbacks are temporary and where the success of one os a result of the efforts of many."
Following Friday's dedication marking the beginning of a new dream, a chapter of Salvation Army history in Atlanta was concluded. The Lakewood Corps, which will now operate in the Kroc center, held a poignant closing service on Saturday morning. Bandmaster Antoine Terrell recited an entertaining history of Lakewood in verse, and long-time soldiers of the corps were honored by Majors William and Debra Mockabee, Georgia divisional leaders. The national and corps flags were posted in their accustomed places on the platform and moments later were carried out the corps doors by Cadets Joe Contreras and Jeremiah Romack for the three-mile walk to the Kroc center. Lt. Colonel John Mikles, a formerLakewood corps officer, brought the message.
The bridge from old to new continued on Sunday morning, culminating a weekend of ceremony and commitment to ministry in South Atlanta.
A tent erected in the parking lot of the Atlanta Kroc Corps served as a chapel for the inaugural wo
rship service held at the new facility. Three teams of soldiers and corps cadets went out into the surrounding neighborhood to invite residents to worship. Once the meeting began, joyful songs from the praise and worship team echoed in all directions of the neighborhood. There could be no doubt as to the message that would resonate from this place for years to come: praise to God for his goodness, and an invitation to all to find salvation in Jesus Christ.
Captain Robert Parker, assistant corps officer, preached the first sermon of the new corps, drawing his lesson from the parable of the vineyard. Parker reminded the congregation of Jesus' statement that "the first shall be last, and the last shall be first" - explaining that there is no seniority in God's Kingdom.
"We are here by invitation of Jesus Christ," Parker proclaimed, "and we are here in obedience to that invitation. We are forgiven regardless of our station in life. Our message to this neighborhood is that there is no shortage of God's grace!"