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The Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center Hawaii aims to better serve the community by strengthening its internal culture.
With 26 Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers across the U.S., The Salvation Army aims to revitalize previously underserved communities by offering programs and services for people of all ages. To achieve that goal, a center’s internal environment must foster trust, engagement and a shared sense of purpose.
In short, culture matters.
For The Salvation Army to effectively preach the gospel and meet human needs without discrimination, its programs must be healthy from the inside out.
“When staff feel heard, engaged and valued, the organization becomes more unified, mission-focused and better equipped to serve the community,” said Rick Ahn, director of the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Kapolei, Hawaii.
That conviction fueled the Kroc Center Hawaii’s recent efforts to strengthen its workplace culture by undergoing the certification process to become a Best Christian Workplace, which it achieved in May. Best Christian Workplaces (BCW) is a nonprofit organization that helps Christian organizations build healthy workplace cultures through research-based assessments and resources.
The Hawaii Kroc Center is among the first of The Salvation Army Western Territory’s Kroc Centers to achieve the designation, following the Suisun City (California) Kroc Center in 2023, and alongside the San Diego Kroc Center, also in May.
And their certification came as a surprise, Ahn said.
“It kind of blew all of our minds,” he said.
It followed the Hawaii Kroc Center’s second round of surveying employees. Typically, Ahn said, when employees discover they won’t face repercussions for speaking freely, they’re likely to be more honest with their responses, which often causes BCW scores to decrease the second time around.
But at the Hawaii Kroc Center, this was not the case, with survey results revealing positive change from the initial feedback as employees realized their voices were being heard, and actions were being taken to address concerns.
Major Osei Stewart, Kroc Center Corps Officer with his wife, Major Lynn Stewart, arrived at the Hawaii Kroc Center in 2021, “right out of COVID,” Stewart said, a time when many people were “not in the best place.”
Stewart said they wanted to ensure it was a great place to work.
“It’s one of our top priorities, to make sure people enjoy coming to work and that morale is up,” he said. “That was something we focused on from the time we arrived. It wouldn’t be an easy thing to do, but we knew it had to be done.”
Stewart said the BCW process offered a more structured approach that encouraged broader participation from staff, ultimately leading to positive results.
“Because when we invest in the people who carry the mission forward, we glorify God—and serve our communities with greater excellence, compassion and joy.”
Rick Ahn
The certification came just as the Stewarts are preparing to move to a new appointment.
“It’s wonderful to see this transformation before we leave,” he said.
Ahn and Training Business Support Manager Lynette Reconsal said the Stewarts’ willingness to embrace honest feedback and champion change played a pivotal role in the process.
“As senior leaders, they modeled the vulnerability and commitment required for true transformation,” Ahn said.
Reconsal has been on the frontlines of the certification process. She’s been holding department meetings—including everyone from leadership to support staff—to address items raised in the initial survey and work collaboratively on solutions.
She said creating a space where employees felt safe to speak up wasn’t easy. Some meetings were marked by silence as team members naturally hesitated to share feedback in front of their supervisors.
“There were definitely some awkward moments,” Reconsal said. “But I reminded people: We all need to have a voice, and you all are in a safe place to share.”
Her approach emphasized steady, focused problem solving. Rather than trying to fix everything at once, she guided teams to tackle one issue at a time, starting with a recurring challenge across departments: communication.
As she met with departments, she had guidance from BCW Senior Engagement and Talent Consultant Tara VanderSande, who acknowledged the center’s efforts.
“I was impressed with the Hawaii team’s hard work and tenacity,” VanderSande said. “They followed every recommendation I offered to increase their culture health—from all-staff meetings to team-specific discussions and action-planning collaborations.”
The kitchen department saw significant improvement after long struggling with last-minute banquet event orders that left staff scrambling. With Reconsal’s support, the team outlined clear expectations and consequences for missed deadlines. The plan was shared across departments, with positive results.
Reconsal is now launching a center-wide Employee Engagement Committee, which will meet monthly to plan events and suggest incentives to help sustain momentum.
Earning the Best Christian Workplace certification is just the beginning, Reconsal said.
“It’s a continuous process,” she said. “We have a lot of work to do, and God’s showing us how to get that work done—helping the people that help other people.”
For Ahn, the certification is more than a milestone—it’s a mandate.
“The Best Christian Workplace certification isn’t just a badge of honor—it’s a call to action,” he said. “It reminds us that cultivating a Christ-centered workplace isn’t only possible, it’s essential to long-term mission impact. Because when we invest in the people who carry the mission forward, we glorify God—and serve our communities with greater excellence, compassion and joy.”
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