At the Frontier

A network of Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers across the U.S. have a common goal: to help people discover and develop their passions in their own neighborhood.

The 26 centers were created thanks in large part to Joan Kroc, wife of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, who entrusted The Salvation Army with $1.5 billion to build a space for arts, education and athletics in underserved communities.

The Hawaii Kroc Center, on the island of Oahu, has been offering fun for more than seven years. With some 11,000 members, the center attracts locals with everything from a water park to a dance academy to Kroc Church.

In this episode, Executive Director and Senior Pastor Major Phil Lum says the Hawaii Kroc Center is a one stop shop for the family. A Salvation Army officer for more than 30 years, Lum was appointed to help develop the Kroc Center back in 2006 and he's steered its growth since.

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What is peace—and how do we build it?

How can we create a shared future where everybody belongs.

In this episode, Monica Curca talks about peace and why it involves all of us...Why we're all responsible to solve violence. And why power is found in relationship.

Monica founded Activate Labs, a nonprofit organization that builds a creative force for peace and justice. Her projects bring together the ingredients for joy to enable direct, structural and cultural peacebuilding.

As a refugee herself and someone who holds two master's degrees in sustainable international development and conflict and coexistence, Monica is perfectly poised to help us pursue a lens of peace.

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What's 18 square miles with a riverfront promenade and legendary food scene?

You guessed it—Napa.

This central California town is considered a world-class destination with plenty of culinary star power.

And Chef Paul Fields is at the heart of it all, having worked for the Pebble Beach Company, Silverado Country Club and several local Napa wineries. He honed his culinary skills at Oenotri, which was recognized as one of the Bay Area's top 100 restaurants. And he was the Executive Chef at the prestigious Inn on Randolph, a boutique bed and breakfast that is considered one of the country's top inns.

Now, Chef Paul is cooking in a different kitchen as the Executive Chef of The Salvation Army Napa Valley Culinary Training Academy.

Designed in collaboration with the Culinary Institute of America, the program is for those with at least six months of sobriety to support their transition back to the workforce.

Since launching in 2016, the academy has successfully placed 87 percent of its graduating students into jobs—thanks to intentional partnerships with the local hospitality industry.

From sautéing, to safe knife skills or how to plan a menu, Chef Paul leads students through the 15-week course and serves as a mentor along the way.

In this episode, he says cooking and food are means to community and a way to instantly make someone's day better.

And that passion led him from commercial kitchen to commercial kitchen in The Salvation Army, preparing students for successful employment and thus self sufficiency.

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It's no secret that sports teach character.

Both wellness and life lessons come with being part of a team.

Jose Moreno gets to take those benefits to the next level.

As the Vice President of Marketing and Community Relations for the Fiesta Bowl, Jose leads charitable giving and philanthropic efforts across Arizona.

Through events like the Fiesta Bowl—a college football bowl game held annually in Phoenix—Fiesta Bowl Charities gave $2.5 million to Arizona nonprofits in 2018—including The Salvation Army.

In this episode, Jose talks about sportsmanship and how sports provide an avenue to do good.

Yet—as someone named to the Phoenix Business Journal Forty-Under-40 Class of 2018 of up and coming leaders in the community—Jose says you don't need an organization behind you to do good. He shares practical tips for being intentional with our efforts and explains how we can each have an impact right where we are.

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Did you know: One in seven Americans will be affected by addiction? And the disease is even more prevalent in members of the armed forces, particularly with tobacco, alcohol and prescription drug abuse.

Unsurprisingly, the problems created by addiction are many.

As veteran Edwyn Hector says, addiction takes you from you.

For 18 years, Ed has helped more than 3,000 people work through addiction to gain control at The Salvation Army's Bell Shelter. Located just outside of Los Angeles, the Bell Shelter is one of the largest homeless shelters west of the Mississippi—and many of its clients are vets.

In this episode, Ed talks about addiction, why recovery is different than sobriety, and what it takes to find healing.

It all begins with learning to love who you are, Ed says, and he shares how he leads clients to do exactly that.

According to Ed, how we feel is how we live. And there's a lot to love for each one of us.

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Do you want to know the Bible better but aren't sure where to start?

Do you open your Bible to begin reading and feel a little lost?

You're not alone. Those are the two most common barriers to the study of Scripture.

And with those in mind, Pastor Mark Moore wrote "Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Build Your Bible IQ in a Year."

As a former New Testament professor at Ozark Christian College and now the teaching pastor at Christ's Church of the Valley in Phoenix, Mark is the personal guide you need for spiritual growth.

In just 15 minutes a day, Mark's book will help you master the 52 MORE important verses in the Bible—those passages with the greatest potential for practical application—from creation to heaven, money, God's will and grace.

In this episode, Pastor Mark explores our desire to know the Bible better because we know it makes us better. He shares research that biblical engagement improves self-esteem, family structure and social interactions.

Pastor Mark offers his own experience of meeting God in the passages of Scripture, his goal to "make Jesus famous," and the single greatest spiritual discipline for us all. As Mark says, what you believe will determine what you do—and we need to recover biblical principles for living for the good of the whole.

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When Guy Fieri was just 10 years old, he sold soft pretzels from a three-wheel bicycle cart that he built with his father.

Through the years, Guy has opened more than 60 restaurants around the world, starred in seven TV series and executive produced a number of others, inducted into the BBQ Hall of Fame, and authored six best-selling cookbooks. Recently, he became the third chef ever to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Guy has created a culinary empire. When not filming, "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" or "Guy's Ranch Kitchen," he supports several organizations out to do good, including his own Cooking with Kids Foundation and as a partner in The Salvation Army's Emergency Disaster Services.

When wildfires scorched his hometown of Santa Rosa, California, Guy and his family were evacuated; only for him to return to the frontlines with a cooking trailer, team and food to prepare thousands of meals each day for evacuees, volunteers, and firefighters.

As Guy says, food makes people feel good. In today's episode he says if he can bring comfort to a tragic situation, that's exactly what he's going to do.

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When Commissioner Kenneth G. Hodder returned to the U.S. after 11 years living abroad, he said he was taken aback by the number of people he saw living on the streets—in tents, below freeway underpasses, and at the base of our cities' skyscrapers.

He returned to the West coast to lead The Salvation Army here and knew The Salvation Army had to act.

The organization began in London in 1865 as William Booth walked the streets preaching to the homeless, the hungry and the destitute. What became The Salvation Army set out to offer compassionate, tangible service to people in need—you may have even heard the motto: Soup, Soap and Salvation.

Now that service extends to more than 130 countries around the world and to every zip code here in the U.S. as The Salvation Army works to meet human need in every community—exactly as that community needs.

A graduate of Harvard Law School, Commissioner Hodder has served as a Salvation Army officer for 31 years—ministering in communities from Glendale, California, to Kakamega, Kenya.

In this episode, he shares more about The Way Out—a Salvation Army initiative in the West to not only address the epidemic of homelessness, but to double The Salvation Army's impact—because as Commissioner Hodder says: there is no one better poised to do so.

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If we want our children to be moral people, we have to raise them that way.

Yet Harvard researchers found the majority of youth in a study said their parents were more concerned with their achievement or happiness than whether they cared for others.

And that's exactly what Dr. Rick Weissbourd is out to correct.

As he says, it's most important that we help teach kids to be kind.

It's what he studies as Harvard University's Faculty Director for Making Caring Common—looking at how adults can mentor children's moral and ethical development.

He's a psychologist and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kennedy School, and two-time author, including "The Parents We Mean to Be," which was named one of the best books of its year by The New Yorker.

He consults with schools and organizations across the country and has advised on family policy and school reform at every level of government.

In this episode, Dr. Weissbourd shares five strategies to raise moral, kind and caring kids. Because, as he says, our primary role as parents should be growing good citizens who care.

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In case you haven't heard, homelessness is booming in California.

Some 130,000 Californians are homeless—which is nearly a quarter of the national total. And that rate of homelessness is among the highest in the country.

Homelessness jumped 14 percent from 2016 to 2017 in California and city leaders took note. From 2017 to 2018, most of California's major urban areas saw a slight decrease in homelessness—about 1 percent. But Santa Cruz saw an increase.

This Surf City, boardwalk town in Central California now has the second highest per capita rate of homelessness in California.

In this beach community of some 60,000 people, roughly 2,200 are homeless in Santa Cruz. And each night, The Salvation Army shelters nearly 10 percent of them.

Captain Harold Laubach directs The Salvation Army's efforts in Santa Cruz—which includes the corps, the church, four winter shelters, one being an encampment space that provides safe shelter outdoors, and a homeless navigation center.

In today's show, Captain Laubach takes us in

side a homeless shelter to explain how it operates and how The Salvation Army aims to meet individual needs inside. He details how The Salvation Army partners with its neighbors to mitigate concerns and gain support.

Captain Laubach explores the complex and complicated issue of homelessness—and the sometimes surprising reality of those who face it. He shares what he believes is the way out of homelessness and the role faith plays in it all.

Find show notes for this episode and more at caringmagazine.org/podcast.