A number of key projects within the City have been financed using RDA funding, resulting in a direct local benefit to the community. The Mary Phillips Senior Center is one of many examples.
It’s hard to tell that the City of Temecula Mary Phillips Senior Center, located at 41845 Sixth Street, was once a vacant old blighted school district bus barn. Opened in 1993, this renovated facility brings hundreds of seniors together daily offering vast recreational and human services to the local senior population. Equipped with four pool tables, a library, computers, televisions, classrooms, an auditorium and its own community garden, the center is open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and serves as a hub for seniors to enjoy active and leisurely activities. While its purpose is to serve the human needs of the senior population, an unsuspected offshoot of the flood of its over 1,000 weekly visitors spills over as a boost to surrounding local businesses.
 In addition to all the activities offered here, the facility also serves as a meeting place for outside community groups. “We have all kinds of groups that use this center ---exercise groups, musician groups, you name it,” states Becky Marlbrough, Recreational Assistant for the City of Temecula. Kathleen Hamilton, President of a nonprofit organization, states that her group has met at the Senior Center several hundred times over the years. When asked whether her group takes advantage of the center’s proximity to shops and restaurants in Old Town, she exclaimed, “Oh, Yes! It’s so conveniently located in Old Town that I couldn’t count how many times we’ve gone out to eat either before, during or after a meeting.” Marlbrough agrees, “The senior center definitely generates patrons to the surrounding businesses because I’m constantly hearing their plans about where to eat, shop or get their hair done, etc. Sometimes it is big groups that leave here and walk towards Old Town. Or they come here after visiting the shops in Old Town. It’s very common.” Marlbrough estimates that approximately 20 percent of the visitors to the Center also visit neighboring businesses. That would be roughly 200 a week. The center also employs a staff of 10 not including all the volunteers and, while the ongoing positive economic impacts are endless, the Center’s existence would not be here without the Redevelopment Agency’s funding for its construction and rehabilitation. Even the construction of the center itself provided jobs and the purchase of building materials totaling over $2,239,188. Even though the ongoing operations are not funded by Redevelopment, the bottom line is the center exists because the Redevelopment Agency paid to build it.
 While clearly the center creates a boost to the local economy, it shouldn’t be about economics because its true purpose is priceless: to serve the real human needs of the senior population, particularly those who are lonely or down and out. “This center does a lot of good.” explains Gladys Crane, 85, who says she visits the Mary Phillips Senior Center most days. “You can’t beat a hot meal for $3, or even free if you can’t afford that,” and says, “Some people wouldn’t have a hot meal otherwise.” That same sentiment is shared by Roger Zimmerman, also in his 80’s, who is a regular visitor. “I don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t come here,” states Mr. Zimmerman who has been a Temecula resident for 22 years. “Since Eleanor died 40 weeks ago, I’ve been here every day for the last 38 weeks,” explaining that the first two weeks without her he had to re-group. “I have a home but I get lonely. I like to come down here and meet people. ”
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