A Labor of Love

The Salvation Army has had a community center in the Tenderloin since 1886. Through its different incarnations. The Salvation Army has always been a symbol of hope for the hurting, helping thousands of people of all ages living in this San Francisco neighborhood.

But perhaps one of its biggest incarnations is what is being celebrated today - the dedication of The Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center and Raliton Place. The 135,380 square foot community center and affordable housing facility is the culmination of more that one hundred years of serving the unique community that is the Tenderloin and San Francisco. It is also the beginning of a new era for The Salvation Army.

The first Salvation Army location in the Tenderloin was a community center at 57 Turk Street. Following that , the The Army operated an Evangeline Residence for Women from 1950's to the 1980's at 44 McAllister Street. The Salvation Army then relocated to 240 Turk Street and there it remained. The program first existed as the Bridgeway Project, an outreach designed the help individuals fight and shelter to ease suffering for many of the city's homeless. In recent years building offered social services, a meeting space, church services and after school and summer day camp for as many as 100 children.

The building was constructed in 1906 just after the great earthquake and fire that ravaged San Francisco. Early conservationists were part of constructing the new building and included ground up bricks from adjacent buildings that fell following the disaster. The fireplace featured burned bricks from other buildings, a constant reminder of the city's history. Marble staircases, glass tile floors and intricately shaped metalwork adorned the lobby and common areas offering a glimpse into early century opulence. During prohibition a speakeasy was operated, with ecess provided by a long, secret alleyway and back staircase into the basement. Common lore told us that many of the bullet holes that pierced the metal door were vintage and very well may have from a police raid - the kind seen in old movies. At other times in history, the basement was operated as a bakery with a built in brick oven still accessible right up to demolition day.

The Salvation Army acquired the building during the 1970s. The purpose and use changed as the needs of the community changed, but one thing still remained the same - it was a place of hope in an otherwise hopeless area. Traditionally the Tenderloin is considered the worst neighborhood in San Francisco. It boasts the largest drug use, sex crime and murder rates in San Francisco. On the surface it seems like a very sad place, but if you look deeper you can see hope and a future.

Lack of fire suppression on the upper floors forced the housing to close sometime after 2000. Inadequate wiring and non-handicap compliant rooms made this building a challenge to operate and the cost of upgrading a fading gem was out of reach to The Salvation Army. We needed a miracle. That miracle became a possibility in 2004 when the estate of Joan Kroc, wife of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, announced that Salvation Army community centers allover the United States had been a vision for her too.

Years of planning and many professional dreamers later, that wish is coming true. And not a moment too soon.

The Tenderloin, 56 blocks roughly framed by Marker, Post, Van Ness and Powell streets, is clash of cultures. There are immigrant families working very hard to make a life for themselves. They live here because rents are more affordable than elsewhere in the city. There are down-and-outers who come to the neighborhood just to deal and do drugs. There are prostitutes, homeless people and a population of other people with vacant stares. And jobless people who are just down on their luck. There are also social workers,cops, bar owners and proprietors of small shops.

Approximately 3,500 children live in the neighborhood.

Unlike what children encounter in more predictable and protected neighborhoods, kids living in the Tenderloin have to live with crime, prostitution and sex shops on almost every corner. Liquor stores dot the landscape. Unsettling odors waft from the sidewalk, junkies stragger by and brisk daily trade is carried on. And despite some well-staffed and cared for recreation areas, there is till alack of safe places to play outdoors. No backyards here.

Unlike children in the c=suburbs, kids in the Tenderloin face moments when the city seems to close in around them. There is alack of safe, grassy parks here for a reason. The inviting greenery might hide a used drug needle or broken glass from a beer bottle.

Opening a state of the art community center and housing project in the middle of the worst neighborhood serve two purposes - it give opportunities to those residents who would not otherwise have them, and it may just give the neighborhood itself a boost.

Quite simple, The Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center will provide these children with a new start - a chance at a better life and options that they didn't have before. But it doesn't stop there.

A recreational community center and an affordable housing program will provide a little bit of everything for everyone. A young professional will have a place to work out in the new gym, knowing that her membership dues will go towards a good cause. A family will be able to spend a Saturday afternoon at the center. Mom and da in the gym, and grandparents taking a senior citizen swimming class, the children, hanging out with their friends in the game room, after one having taken a dance class in the dance studio, while the other worked on homework in the Computer Lab (setup and computers provided by the UPS Foundation). Someone needing just one more chance will find housing at Railton Place. All will find a place to worship on Sunday morning.

The Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center Place will provide facilities programs and services that encourage positive life changing experiences.