The Salem Kroc Center celebrated its 15 year anniversary Friday surrounded by dozens of community partners and young students it is helping reconnect with school and employment opportunities.

At the anniversary event, lunch was served to the room by teenagers and young adults in the Kroc Center’s I-Build program, a relatively new effort to help Salem and Keizer youth make up missing credits in school and learn construction skills.

“I just want to change my life for the better,” one student named Jose said in a video presented Friday. He said the program helped him improve from getting Fs and Ds at school to As.

Over its 15 years, the Kroc Center has given back to the area by offering accessible resources to underserved communities through efforts like its annual health fair, which provides free health screening, physicals and tests.

The Kroc Center opened in 2009 as a Salvation Army program to be a safe and fun place for people to play, learn and connect with others in the community. Another video presented Friday included brief clips of people at the Kroc Center saying they appreciate the center’s family feel.

Today, the Kroc offers usual community center features like fitness classes and swim lessons, but also programs for young people like I-Build and GED classes for those who didn’t finish high school.

The Salvation Army began building Kroc Centers around the U.S. following large donation from philanthropist Joan Kroc when she died in 2004. Salem residents worked together to apply for a Kroc Center to be built and opened the center in September 2009.

Since then, the Kroc Center’s mission has been to help families, children and adults in underserved communities. Over 15 years, the center has provided over $2.7 million in total scholarships for membership and classes to people in the Salem-Keizer area.

The center has taught over 16,000 fitness classes and 14,000 swim lessons since it opened.

Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell spoke to the impact of community and recreation centers, sharing how she went to a similar center as a child growing up in east Salem. She said that without it, she would not be where she is today

“What you do for kids and families in this community is really profound,” Bethell said, addressing Frazier.

Marion County helped fund the center’s first year of its GED program, which had 15 graduates, Bethell said.

“The things kids are navigating today are unacceptable,” and the GED and I-Build programs at Kroc “prove they can succeed,” she said. “These two programs are changing … the community for kids who need access.”

The I-Build program, which first launched last summer as an eight-week program, is now available during the school year. Frazier said he expects it to be available for another year at least.