Crank it up for the Kroc

The Salvation Army's planned Kroc Center for Augusta is a heartening testament to what an entire community can do to better itself.

Monday marked the kickoff for the Salvation Army's campaign to raise $20 million locally to help build a massive, multipurpose social services, arts and education complex. That goal already is halfway met, with $10.4 million coming from corporate sponsors and local philanthropists.

And that's on top of the money coming from the late McDonald's restaurant heiress Joan Kroc. Upon her death in 2003, she bequeathed $1.7 billion to groups to construct Kroc Centers nationwide, including one in Augusta.

All that sounds like a lot of money. It is. But don't be fooled into thinking that the Kroc is coasting to completion so easily.

When word gets out about big-name donors to projects such as this, too many individuals think that since the big bucks are rolling in, the smaller bucks aren't necessary.

How wrong that is. This is a center that has the potential to benefit so many people. Understandably, in this economy, a person with barely two nickels to rub together might be reluctant to give up one of those nickels to charity. But that nickel could help pay dividends to Augusta for decades.

The scope of the facility is impressive. Classrooms will be open to people seeking further education and job skills. A fitness center will help make folks healthier. Local arts groups will have space to practice and perform. The Kroc Center even will include a culinary arts training kitchen and an indoor water park. It also will serve as office space for several local nonprofit groups.

And one of the best benefits of the Kroc project is the enormous potential it has for helping revitalize surrounding historic Harrisburg, an old Augusta neighborhood in conflict - its residents are battling crime and dilapidation to remake the area into a better place to live.

Just look at San Diego. Augusta Kroc Center Coordinator Derek Dugan has pointed out that when development began on that city's Kroc, the occupancy rate of the surrounding area was a scant 36 percent. Five years later, that changed to a robust 94 percent. Strong and sustained support of the Kroc could make that magic happen in Augusta too.

The Salvation Army's national Kroc Committee said that Augusta's center will be watched closely as it develops, because future Krocs likely will be modeled after the one proposed here. That kind of attention even further underscores the importance of this project.

When word started spreading around the CSRA a few years ago about the prospect of a Kroc Center in Augusta, residents and organizations galvanized into action to help support it and make that wish into something real.

Whether it's by volunteering money, time or talent, Augustans can - and should - continue to help this project succeed.