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Ray and Joan Kroc Center

Article Overview: The Ray and Joan Kroc Center is just one of the many philanthropic ventures spearheaded by the wife of the McDonald’s founder. Located in Ronaldo, San Diego, the Ray and Joan Kroc Center is a 12.4-acre center designed to support families, education, recreation and cultural arts.

Ray and Joan Kroc Center

The Ray and Joan Kroc Center is just one of the many philanthropic ventures spearheaded by the wife of the McDonald’s founder. Located in Ronaldo, San Diego, the Ray and Joan Kroc Center is a 12.4-acre center designed to support families, education, recreation and cultural arts.

When the McDonald’s founder passed away in 1984, he left behind his billion dollar fortune to his third wife, Joan Beverly Kroc. Four years later, she donated $87 million of the fortune she had inherited from her late billionaire husband to the Salvation Army. $47 million of this gift was meant to build and equip this Center, while the other $40 million was placed into an endowment to help subsidize its operating budget. It was four years in the making, and took over 350 volunteers to put together and plan, but it finally opened its doors on June 1, 2002. Joan Kroc was herself a special guest at the opening.

Key components of the compound are an aquatic center complete with water therapy services, a 56-000 square foot fully-equipped gymnasium, the only ice arena in southern San Diego County, a 30-foot tall rock-climbing wall, a 33,000 square foot performing arts center that houses a 600-seat theatre with a motorized orchestra pit, dance studio and orchestra room, an education center, and office space for the Salvation Army. All the facilities are open to members as well as the general public.

Ray and Joan Kroc first met in a piano bar in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1957, where Ray Kroc was working. They kept up a secret relationship until both had divorced from their other spouses, and finally married each other in 1969. For most of her married life, Joan Kroc would devote herself to philanthropic causes in an effort to share the large fortune her husband had amassed over the years. When Joan Kroc died of brain cancer in 2003, she left a $1.5 billion gift to the Salvation Army in order to continue developing branches of the Ray and Joan Kroc Center throughout the U.S.

While she was alive, Joan Kroc diligently did her homework into the Salvation Army. Was this the right organization to partner with she wanted to know. In a few instances, she even went so far as playing the role of a community member in need at various Salvation Army locations in order to asses the quality of their services. She was impressed with what she found.

According to the trust she left behind, all branches of the Ray and Joan Kroc Center are to be highly visible and accessible to particularly lower-income families. They were also instructed to have high quality facilities, with programs that cover education, fitness, arts, and worship. From Atlanta, Georgia, to Salem, Oregon, to Dayton, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan, today there are plans to build a Ray and Joan Kroc Center in every region of the U.S.

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Article Tags: acre center, brain cancer, dollar fortune, education recreation, families education, joan kroc center, mcdonalds founder, operating budget, orchestra pit, philanthropic causes, ray and joan kroc, ray and joan kroc center, ray kroc, rock climbing wall, salvation army, seat theatre, secret relationship, st paul minnesota, water therapy, wife joan



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Re: Quote of the Day - Ted Turner - Hi Evan, I mentioned on another thread that I'm reading Saint Joan of Arc by Vita Sackville West. I think Joan of Arc set some pretty high goals, for an unknown peasant girl from an unimportant village in the middle of nowhere much... Goals: 1. Go and see the Dauphin! 2. Help him relieve the siege of Orleans!! 3. To lead the Dauphin to his coronation at Rheims!!! The first time she tried to put this plan into action, by seeking permission from her local feudal lord to travel, he told her minder to "reduceret eam ad domum sui patris et daret ei alapas" which is to say, "take her home to her father and give her a smacking". The rest is history!
Ray Kroc was 52 When He Started! - Wow - thanks Evan! I didn't realize Ray Kroc was already 52 when he STARTED McDonald's - it's a great story to help us all realize that if we put our minds to it we can grow our businesses quickly no matter how old we are! Julie.
Hello, I'm a newbie too - Hi, I was introduced to your site by a friend from a different forum. I had asked the question "how many people became successes after age 45?" and one response led me here. I'm still looking for the answer to that question, I've been studying a variety of things, and I've read Ray Kroc's autobiography, which led me to wonder how many people became a success after the age of 45. So far I've come up with Kroc, Colonel Sanders, and a few singers. Can any one assist me with this? Thanks, Anita
I answer my phone - when I worked in the Call Center we had to say "Good XXXXXX, Andy speaking, How may I help you?" imagine saying that over and over again. It kind of sticks with you. It's been a few years now but I've kicked off "How may I help you?" part.
Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Mar 4, 2011 - Hi Evan, Thanks for the latest list. I don't plan to do too much online "reading" this weekend as I'm hoping to keep up the momentum of developing and promoting my upcoming online business podcast service... However, when not online, I always find time to read books. I'm pleased to report that my "three-books-at-a-time" pattern has organically reestablished itself. I have nearly finished reading all three: 1. Breakfast reading: The Story of Philosophy, by Bryan Magee. (One of those Dorling Kindersley illustrated books, so not too heavy going!!) 2. Tram/train/out & about reading: Renaissance Self Fashioning, by Stephen Greenblatt. 3. Bedtime reading: Saint Joan of Arc, by Vita Sackville West.


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