Foxburg community center to open with boost from Keystone SMILES

Foxburg residents will soon be celebrating the opening of the town’s new community center thanks to the Keystone SMILES House of Trades.

The former Foxburg Volunteer Fire Company building was abandoned before July 6. That is when Libby Hansford and about 30 volunteers came to town and began two community service projects for the borough.

One was a rain garden on Spring Street, which was completed around Oct. 21.

“There was a foundation here from a house that was torn down and there were several springs coming down the hill,” said AmeriCorps member Giles Carter. “We diverted the stream and built a pond. We built a wall with about 200 tires and put in several tons of gravel. We couldn’t use any equipment because of the slope so it was a lot of spadework. We worked on it for several months and, hopefully, the wild flowers we planted will come out next spring and the community will have an attractive spot here,” Carter added.

The other project is the Foxburg Community Center that should be completed in the next couple of weeks.

“We did some landscaping on the side and had some water issues we had to deal with,” said Hansford, who is the service learning director for Keystone Smiles. “We put in 45 feet of French drain and recycled pavers we found in the back of the building. We used them to build the entry. We recycled a lot of the material.”

An old storefront was removed and turned into an entry to the community room. The interior was painted, fluorescent ceiling lights were replaced with new LED lights and two windows were installed.

An old, leaking, water heater was replaced, a kitchenette is being built and a refrigerator and gas heater were donated.

Carter, an Oil City resident, has been with Keystone SMILES for two years.

“I was unemployed and this looked like a good opportunity,” he said. He was involved with a renovation project in Oil City and is looking forward to a second project.

“SMILES has been up cycling a great deal of materials and also donating other newer materials as needed,” said former Emlenton Borough mayor Jamie Hunt. “The community center will be in the room next to the council room.”

The old truck bays have been used for storage and need rehabilitation.

“Who knows, we may be back here again,” said Hansford. “There is still a lot of work to do.”

The Keystone SMILES House of Trades, is a division of AmeriCorps.