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Broderick and Bianca Pryor will spend the next year on a tour of the community centers, volunteering at each.
By Bianca M. Pryor –
Broderick and Bianca Pryor, Salvationists from Denver, departed Sept. 12 to spend the next year visiting 24 Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers across mainland U.S., starting in Omaha, Neb.
The idea occurred to Bianca Pryor after the pair attended The Gathering, a Western Territorial congress in Pasadena, Calif., in 2012.
“It was my first time going to California and my first time attending a Commissioning, and we had a wonderful time and hated to leave,” she said. “On my way home to Denver, I read the material given to us in our complimentary bag. It was then that I read about Joan Kroc and her vision. I heard God telling me that he had a plan for my husband and I to spend a year spreading love in each one and to trust in him the whole way.”
The Pryors left behind jobs at the Denver Red Shield—she in the after-school program and he as the summer day camp cook. They were first connected to the Army as volunteer kettle bell ringers in 2009, and started attending the Denver Red Shield Corps shortly after.
“Before you knew it we were reading Scripture in the service, and teaching children’s Sunday school and junior church when we were asked,” Pryor said. “I became a Salvationist and even joined the praise team. The Salvation Army turned into my home away from home.”
She brought energy to the Home League, even creating a monthly Ladies’ Night Out get together.
For the past year, the Pryors have spent an hour every Saturday planning their Kroc Centers tour.
“We didn’t tell a soul until the beginning of this year when Major Sabrina Tumey [recently appointed corps officer in Port Angeles, Wa.] asked me why I was working two jobs. When I shared our plans, she smiled and said, ‘If there’s one thing I’ve learned about you is when God puts something on your heart you do your best to obey,’” Pryor said. “I couldn’t help but agree.”
The pair plans to spend two weeks at a center, volunteering and attending programs and church services. Broderick Pryor, a massage therapist, will give free chair massages for two hours each weekday.
Bianca Pryor said, “We ask that you keep us in your prayers as we walk by faith and not by sight.”
See more about the 26 Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Centers across the U.S. at salvationarmyusa.org/usn/kroc-centers.
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