Perris Secures $1.67M In Funding For Senior Center Expansion Project

The Perris Senior Center is one of the hottest spots in town.

“They got too many things going on here,” Clayton Moore, who has been coming to the senior center since before the pandemic, said. “I started coming because of the art classes that they were having.”

On any given weekday afternoon there are dozens of seniors sitting at tables playing cards, in the back room playing pool, gathered around the flat screen television or nestled away in a corner crocheting as they chat.

More often than not, Moore can be found playing Rummikub, a tile-based game, at one of the tables in the main room.

“I’m hanging out,” he said. “I’m having a second run at it, at being single, but I’m loving it this time. I’m not getting hooked up with none of these old ladies here.”

The Perris Senior Center, along with hosting a variety of programming such as art and exercise classes, serves lunch to about 65 seniors Monday through Friday while also providing a place for people 50 and older to access vital information from a number of organizations.

“Our senior center is really a second home for our senior community, and we have seniors who spend all day here, from morning to afternoon until literally, we sometimes kick them out,” Cynthia Lemus, community services supervisor, said. “It’s become an oasis for them, a second home, a place where they can come, not only join activities with their peers, but also make friendships and kind of really get away from the home.”

But with nearly a quarter of the city’s population over the age of 50, the small space at the corner of North “D” Street and West San Jacinto Avenue just isn’t big enough.

For larger events, such as senior prom, staff from the senior center have to head across the street to the Bob Glass Gym and make sure that not only do they have what they need for the event, but also that the seniors know where to go and feel confident getting there.

“Sometimes they feel scared walking across the street, or they don’t feel comfortable,” Jordan McClanahan, Recreation Coordinator, said. “So we want to be able to provide a space for them that we can do everything that they do over there and bring it to this side.”

And that hope will become a reality over the next two years as the facility’s expansion project gets underway, thanks to $1.67 million in funding delivered earlier this month by Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA 39th District).

“Perris is the little city that can, but not for much longer, because you keep growing,” Takano said in a news release from the city. “We want to make sure that you have the resources to make the quality of life here more and more inviting so you can serve all of your citizens, and that includes your seniors as well.”

That funding will be used to increase the center’s size by about 2,250 square feet and will include kitchen renovations and an expanded multipurpose room, giving the city additional capacity to provide meals and host interactive events and educational programming to the primarily disadvantaged minority senior population.

“We’ve been discussing it for quite a while now, even the talk about a new senior center, but we were able to get some funding, some grants, and that kicked it off about a year ago,” Arcenio Ramirez, interim Parks and Community Services Director, said. “Right now we’re in the design phases, and then hopefully once that’s all done, we’ll begin construction early next year.”

In addition to funding for the senior center expansion, Takano also provided the city with an additional $200,000 to purchase body cameras for its code enforcement division.