TEMPLE, Texas (KXXV) — Seniors who relied on Sammons Community Center for connection and activities are now scattered across the city after structural damage forced the facility to close.
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Sammons Community Center in Temple was full of life until a tornado struck in 2024. While crews worked to repair the roof, they uncovered deeper structural concerns — and now the city says there is no "viable path" to reopening the building.
For seniors who called Sammons home, the closure is more than an inconvenience. It has disrupted a community built on friendship, routine, and belonging. Gretchen Balisimski said the center held a special kind of energy that is hard to replicate elsewhere.
"It was beautiful with the lake and the birds and with people doing different things in different rooms. So we can we can definitely meet with some other friends," Balisimski said.
Larry Quick, a Sammons regular for seven years, said the city has determined the building cannot simply be repaired.
"So they've determined that they cannot just simply repair Sammons. It's a tear down and they have to rebuild. So we're all anxious to get to that point because it, it's the life of most of the seniors around here," Quick said said.
Pam Dail joined the Sammons community after her husband passed away in 2021. She said the group became her family and a source of light during a difficult time.
"You just walked in and everybody knew who you were after you got started. And they just, you know, here's somebody playing, doing cards, and here's somebody over here doing exercising back in the thing, and here's somebody, and everybody was so friendly and it just drew you in and it helped me because though I had my church friends and I had, you know, it was, it was somebody I didn't know. I didn't know these people," Pam said.
Balisimski, who also found help handling depression at Sammons, said the relationships formed inside the center carry a deeper value.
"That relationship, that that that incredible relationship that we build among other human beings from different walks of life is just so precious and so rewarding. I think just keeps us younger and healthier and happier, which benefits the whole entire society," Balisimski said.
The city says the extent of the damage means a bond election would be needed to fund a rebuild. That measure could be placed before voters this November.
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