At the back of a room filled with dignitaries and politicos, a young mother of four children from Wai'anae is bubbling with excitement over the Salvation Army announcement yesterday that a Ray and Joan Kroc Community Center will be built in Kapolei.

"I never had anything like this," Valerie Tanele said, "so I'm all excited. Now I know my kids growing up will have something, a place in the community there to help them."

Melissa Niau-Pule, also from Wai'anae, is thrilled about employment opportunities the center brings to West O'ahu, but more importantly, that her three kids "will have a place to go to keep them out of trouble."

Salvation Army Western Territory commissioner Philip Swyers presented an $80 million check yesterday to Hawai'i organizers for the construction and operation of a Kroc Community Center in Kapolei, which is expected to open in February 2010. The money comes from the estate of Joan Kroc, late widow of McDonald's Corp. founder Ray Kroc. She bequeathed nearly $1.6 billion to the Salvation Army to build about 50 community centers in the United States.

Hawai'i is among the first applicants nationally to be awarded a Kroc Center. Others in the Salvation Army Western Territory awarded Kroc Center grants yesterday were Long Beach, Calif.; San Francisco; Salem Ore.; Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; and Phoenix South Mountain, Ariz., Swyers said.

Swyers called Hawai'i's proposal "superior," because of total community support, location of the facility within 10 miles of 29 schools, the proposed University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu campus, and the "magnificent" layout.

"The people of Hawai'i need to understand that this property, this building and this community is first-class," Swyers said. "We believe that this is the most significant day for the Salvation Army's existence of well over 100 years in Hawai'i. This day is No. 1 because this whole community came together and made something good happen."

Although the facility will be on 10 acres of state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands' property in Kapolei, Nyejo Delos Santos, 21, of Wai'anae, says it'll be "everybody's center."

"This stuff is good," Delos Santos said. "I feel like Wai'anae is finally getting something nobody did get before. And it's the first and only one in the state."

Added 19-year-old Kealii Irvine, also of Wai'anae, "I think it's going to save a lot of young lives by making a difference, especially in school."

Despite being one of the largest philanthropic gifts ever awarded in Hawai'i, the $80 million will not be enough to cover construction and projected operating costs and make the facility self-sufficient, said First Hawaiian Bank president and CEO Donald Horner, who is heading a drive to raise an additional $20 million to $25 million locally.

Horner said yesterday that a bequest of more than $4 million to the Salvation Army in Hawai'i from the late Jack and Marie Lord, and substantial pledge commitments from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, James and Abigail Campbell Foundation and the First Hawaiian Bank have the fund drive off to a good start.

"We expect to get the money raised and committed to by the end of this year," Horner said.

To build a facility with seven separate centers on a 100,000-square-foot campus layout will cost more than $55 million, Horner said. In addition to the $15 million that must be raised to pay for construction, Horner said, it is critical that the fund drive adds $5 million to $10 million to Joan Kroc's $40 million operating endowment.

"Many times, these kinds of facilities are built and there's not enough money to maintain it and the quality goes down," Horner said. "Mrs. Kroc had the vision that in order to ensure quality, there had to be enough money to sustain it, so we wouldn't have to perpetually have to raise money to maintain it.

"If you have $50 million at 5 percent, that's $2.5 million of income coming into the center every year in order to maintain it," Horner said. "Our goal is that in 2010 when it opens, the center will be financially independent. It won't be dependent on government or fundraising."

Another key factor is the support of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

"This is going to be an area where things are going to be built around," DHHL Chairman Micah Kane said. "You have this $100 million-plus commitment that has galvanized the community around recognizing what importance and need there is out there. As a result of that, I don't think you'll start hearing questions about North-South Road funding or West O'ahu campus funding.

"People will recognize that there's such a huge commitment from outside the state of Hawai'i to make this place work that everybody will come together for the benefit of the area."

Kane confirmed yesterday that DHHL is leasing 10 acres to the Salvation Army for 65 years at $10 a year under a "memorandum of understanding" that will allow the Salvation Army to exchange land of equal value by January 2008 for ownership.

"We've identified a couple of parcels based on surveys that either they own or that they're aware of that they can purchase," Kane said. "There are needs for us on the island of O'ahu, especially in Windward O'ahu as well as Kapolei, where our homesteaders would like to live."

From government leaders to state education Superintendent Patricia Hamamoto and Leeward area principals, yesterday's attendance of the Kroc Center announcement at First Hawaiian's downtown bank center was an impressive show of support.

"I believe a project like this can lift the spirits of an entire state, certainly of this island," Gov. Linda Lingle said. "And especially by putting it in the Leeward area — so people from Kapolei down the coast, who rightfully feel often they get the least, not the most, are going to get the best facility anywhere in the state."

The economic and social impact of the project is tremendous, Horner said.

"They'll employ over 100 people, and they'll be people from the community because those are the people who care about what's going on," Horner said. "More important is the Salvation Army hires people that other people may not see as potentially employable, and they make them employable. It's going to be a tremendous benefit."

Kane imagines what Kapolei will look like in February 2010 when the Kroc Center opens.

"The first phase of the West O'ahu campus will be up, we'll be in our second phase of development of our 400-unit subdivision, our office building will be fully operational with a staff of 150, our commercial site will have broken ground and, hopefully, we'll see construction going on with the rail system," Kane said. "And you'll see a lot of happy people."

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.