Media Preview Tour of The Salvation Army Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center

 Come and Get a Sneak Peek at All the Kroc Center Has to Offer

WHAT:   The Salvation Army will hold a special preview tour for the media on Wednesday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to noon, of the brand new Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center, a community center of unprecedented size and scope that represents the largest single investment by a social service organization in Chicago’s history.  The much anticipated Kroc Center is scheduled to open to the public on Saturday, June 16, with a whole weekend of Grand Opening events and festivities continuing through Sunday, June 17. 

The media preview tour will provide an opportunity to be among the first to see the newly completed 160,000-square-foot facility and talk with Kroc Center program directors, the architect and key community partners and supporters who helped make the project possible.   

The 33-acre campus includes indoor and outdoor sports stadiums and playing fields, an aquatics center, a golf training academy, a performing arts center, a fitness center and much more.  The Kroc Center will offer the largest array of educational, sports, arts and supportive programs anywhere in the city under one roof.  The Kroc Center promises to be a major catalyst of growth for the community, creating jobs and providing a safe haven for youth sorely in need of the recreational, creative and educational alternatives to gangs and violence.  More than 2,500 people are expected to use the Kroc Center daily. 

 WHEN:           Wednesday, May 9, 2012

10 a.m. to noon

WHERE:         1250 West 119^th Street

From downtown: take Dan Ryan to I-57 South.  Exit at 119^th Street; head east approx. ½ mile.

WHO:             

Lt. Col. Ralph Bukiewicz, Metropolitan Divisional Commander, The Salvation Army

Majors David and Darlene Harvey, Kroc Center Administrators

Judy Keller and Paul Rigby, Co-Chairs, Give Hope Campaign

Joseph Antunovich, President, Antunovich Associates

Dr. Mable Alfred, Principal, Higgins Community Academy     

BACKGROUND:  Upon her death in 2003, Joan Kroc passed on to The Salvation Army the largest gift ever made to a private charity for the specific purpose of constructing state-of-the-art facilities in underserved areas around the country, facilities that would offer a completely new approach to the concept of community centers. For additional details, renderings and program descriptions, visit www.chicagokroccenter.org. 

- 30 -

75th Annual National Donut Day Fun Facts!

A sweet celebration, 75 years in the making! Entenmann’s Bakery, the maker of more than 100 sweet baked goods, and The Salvation Army have partnered for the second year in a row to celebrate the 75^thAnnual National Donut Day on June 1^st, 2012 with a sweet program. The holiday, held annually on the first Friday of June, was established byThe Salvation Army in 1938 to honor The Salvation Army’s “Donut Lassies” who served these treats to soldiers during World War I. This significant occasion established the donut as a long-standing symbol of the services The Salvation Army continues to provide.

Salvation Army:

• The Salvation Army started National Donut Day during the Great Depression as a way to raise funds and bring awareness to The Salvation Army’s social service programs.
•  National Donut Day commemorates the “donut lassies,” female Salvation Army volunteers who provided writing supplies, stamps, clothes-mending and home-cooked meals, and of course, donuts, for soldiers on the front lines.
•  Approximately 250 Salvation Army volunteers provided assistance to American soldiers inFrancestarting in 1917 during WWI.
•  With limited resources, these treats were fried, only seven at a time. The Salvation Army’s Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance cleverly thought of frying donuts in soldiers’ helmets.
•  Last year, 30 million Americans received assistance from The Salvation Army’s 3,600 officers, 60,000 employees and 3.4 million volunteers.

Entenmann’s Bakery:

• Entenmann’s has made more than 4 billion donuts – if you laid them end-to-end, you could wrap them around the earth almost 9 times!
•  The Rich Frosted Donut has been the #1 seller since its introduction in 1972. (2012 marks the 40-Year Anniversary – that’s a sweet celebration.)
• Entenmann’s Donut Facility inCarlisle,Pennsylvaniais the largest Donut Plant in theUnited States, producing more than 40 million boxes of yummy delight each year.
•  Believing that people were more inclined to buy what they can see, the Entenmann’s brothers, William, Robert and Charles, and mother, Martha, invented the familiar “see-through” cake box for baked goods in 1959.
•  At one time, more than 168 million pounds of chocolate have been used for Entenmann’s Rich Frosted Donuts, enough to fill all of theGreat Lakes.
• In the early ’50s, Frank Sinatra used to call theBay Shorebakery to place weekly orders from Entenmann’s.

For more information on the 75^th National Donut Day, please visit www.salarmychicago.org/donutday and http://www.facebook.com/SalvationArmyChicago.

Entenmann’s® and The Salvation Army Celebrate 75th Annual National Donut Day on June 1st

Historic Event Marked by Facebook Donation Campaign and ‘Free Donuts for a Year’ Sweepstakes Beginning April 22nd 

A sweet celebration, 75 years in the making! Entenmann’s Bakery, the maker of more than 100 sweet baked goods, and The Salvation Army have partnered for the second year in a row to celebrate the 75^th Annual National Donut Day on June 1^st, 2012 with a sweet program. The holiday, held annually on the first Friday of June, was established by The Salvation Army in 1938 to honor The Salvation Army’s “Donut Lassies” who served these treats to soldiers during World War I. This significant occasion established the donut as a long-standing symbol of the services The Salvation Army continues to provide.

In its continued support of The Salvation Army, from April 22 to June 23 Entenmann’s Bakery will donate to the organization $1 for every person who “likes” the Entenmann’s Facebook page, up to $25,000.

Starting on April 22, in celebration of this historical day, Entenmann’s will be rewarding lucky winners with ‘Free Donuts for a Year’ and additional prizes through a sweepstakes link on the Entenmann’s Facebook page. All entries must be received by 11:59: p.m. ET on June 23, 2012. Winners will be randomly selected from all submissions. Official Rules can be found at www.entenmanns.com.

The Salvation Army celebrated the first National Donut Day in Chicago in 1938 to help raise needed funds during the Great Depression and commemorate the work of the “donut lassies” who fed the tasty confection to American soldiers and made the donut what it is today. The donuts became synonymous with The Salvation Army, as well as the American soldiers who were returning home with the nickname, “doughboys.” Today, The Salvation Army continues to provide meals, including donuts, and numerous other services to clients who visit Salvation Army programs daily.

For more information on the 75^th National Donut Day, please visit www.salarmychicago.org/donutday.

Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Chicago Grand Opening Celebration – June 16 and June 17