The Salvation Army is famous for making music with metallic instruments. Now for most people that means brass; trumpets, coronets, tubas etc…But this August, The Salvation Army’s Compton Community Center played a variation of this theme via a very public performance of the National Anthem on steel drums.

Playing before the start of this year’s LA Stars Celebrity All-Star basketball game for charity, the children of the The Salvation Army’s Compton Community Center wowed those in attendance with their rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Under the direction of Captain Martin Ross, the children received a standing ovation from those gathered at the University of Southern California’s Galen Center which hosted this event.

The Salvation Army’s Compton community Center serves as an oasis of calm in the midst of the grimmer realities of inner-city life for our young people. A 22,000 square foot facility, the center is equipped with a chapel, a regulation-sized basketball court, fully stocked weight room, industrial kitchen, computer room, and playground.

Multi-cultural services and programs, including tutoring and of course, its steel drum band, have made this center a hallmark of community action in the city of Compton. Captain Ross, its bilingual African-American director is helping to bridge the Latino and African American neighborhoods who call the Compton Community Center their home.