ASHLAND – The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center made a splash Thursday with the announcement of a major expansion that will include as its centerpiece an indoor water park.
Funded by a $7.2 million gift from The Salvation Army Eastern Territorial Headquarters in New York, the approximately 20,000 square foot addition also will feature a fitness facility, locker rooms, a community hub with expanded concessions, multipurpose rooms and lounge space, as well as additional parking. Â
“Just as we are getting ready to celebrate our 10-year anniversary in April, it’s exciting to announce the news that the best is yet to come,” Capt. Annalise Francis told a gathering of community members Thursday. Â
Francis said the Kroc Center will continue to fulfill the Salvation Army’s mission by providing meals, grocery orders, housing assistance, transportation, after school care, utility assistance, educational opportunities and artistic and spiritual enrichment programs but also will add much more.Â
“We’re thrilled to have more to offer– Really a place for the community to come for hope and also come for wellness and just some good old-fashioned fun,” she said.
The Kroc Center’s existing outdoor spray park is one of its most prized and popular amenities but can only be used a few months of the year. The new water park and fitness facility will be open year-round for community members of all ages, Francis said.Â
A committee of staff, board members and community leaders is still working through the design phase to finalize plans for the expansion, so additional details and interior design renderings have not yet been released. The committee did reveal an exterior rendering, which shows a large addition in the rear of the building and depicts a tube slide extending outside the building.
Further details and design plans will be presented to the community at the Kroc Center’s 10th Anniversary Birthday Bash 2-4 p.m. April 13.
Plans for the expansion have been in the works since 2016, when Salvation Army leadership came to communities that already had Kroc Centers and asked them to provide proposals for capital improvements, Dustin Beattie, a member of the Kroc Center’s advisory board, said.Â
The center formed a capital committee, which is chaired by Beattie and also includes Jim Cutright, Matt Miller, Ryan Emmons, Mary Hartley, Doug Marrah, Rachel Mutchler and Annalise Francis.Â
A group of committee members and Kroc Center staff went to the Salvation Army headquarters in New York to present Ashland’s proposal and make its case for expansion dollars, according to Matt Miller, who was part of the team that made the trip.Â
The Ashland Kroc Center was the smallest of the centers considered and ended up being awarded the largest gift, according to Francis. The $7.2 million designated to the Ashland project represents about one third of the entire pool of available funds, she said.
“In my experience here in Ashland, there’s such a wonderful sense of community collaboration,” Francis said. “When the offer and the opportunity came forward, people came together really easily and quickly to put together a proposal. I think that’s one of the reasons Ashland got the Kroc Center to begin with, and now why they have been given all these additional funds for expansion.”Â
Beattie said the Kroc Center hopes to break ground for the expansion this September and to open the addition around September 2020.Â
