Library
The school brick building had been mostly ignored for many years. In 2003 the Fines Creek Community Association wrote a grant to the Janirve Foundation to upgrade the east side classrooms to be used as a branch of the Haywood County Public Library. When that project was completed in 2004 the Haywood County Public Library opened the Fines Creek Branch of the Haywood County Public Library. A handicapped wheelchair compliant ramp was added to the front entrance of the library in 2008. This exterior ramp along with the ramp in the auditorium has made the entire brick building handicapped compliant.
MANNA
FCCA’s MANNA pantry is the most important program of the community association. It has been in operation for over 20+ years. FCCA provides food security for over 50 families in the community. The pantry began small and was housed in a room off of the cafeteria kitchen. As the program expanded, FCCA moved the MANNA pantry to the northwest classroom of the brick building. The program continued to expand and the pantry moved to two connected classrooms. During the pandemic an additional classroom was used to handle the increased space needs.
Classrooms
Two of the classroom have been setup to service as a secure storage area for our MANNA Pantry. In 2017 Haywood County did a much needed replace of the roofs on the brick building and cafeteria. The roof repair initiated a period of rehabilitation and creative use of the buildings. Ledford Produce was the first business to use space in the brick building . Smoky Mountain Artisan Crafts quickly followed. A coffee shop was tried, but opened just before the Covid pandemic and closed soon thereafter.
Auditorium
In 2016 Haywood County’s local Lowes sent their Lowe’s Heroes along with all of the tools and materials to completely renovate the 350 seat auditorium in the brick building. These wonderful workers cleaned, scraped, patched and painted the walls. Another volunteer installed the lighting that Lowe’s provided..
A ramp was built along the north indoor wall of the auditorium to connect the two wings of the brick building. The ramp makes the brick building handicapped access compliant.
With the installation of the new roof on the red brick building in2025, repairs and upgrades could be made in the classrooms, halls, and auditorium.
Radiators and steam pipes have been removed from their former spaces, creating a cleaner area. The old metal was recycled, and the funds were used to refurbish the halls and auditorium floors and install attic insulation.
Once the roof no longer leaked, volunteers repaired the ceiling coverings. If the former coverings sustained too much water damage, then new OSB was purchased, painted and installed on the ceiling rafters. All the auditorium seating was removed. The floor was patched, certain points leveled, and then a professional business came and sanded and sealed the old school floor. Some of the auditorium seating was reinstalled. The rows of seats were arranged for a greater ease of access by an older population. The ramp at the side of the auditorium was widened and wall raised to ADA standards; the vertical handrail was covered with wallboard, taped, primed and painted. Then the ramp itself was floored to match the auditorium pine flooring.
Cafeteria
In 2011 a member of the Fines Creek community, Deb Shalosky, began a project to have the old school cafeteria kitchen designated as a Level 1 Value Added Kitchen. A Level I kitchen would allow individuals to make certain food products that conformed to requirements for commercial sales. The project required an upgrade to the kitchen facilities. Deb assumed the leadership role and made the necessary upgrades to the kitchen and had the kitchen designated as a Level 1 Value Added Kitchen.
After the roof was replaced in 2017, volunteers repaired water damage and repainted the cafeteria. The wiring was upgraded and emergency exit signs and lights were placed at the exits.
A grant provided funds for a commercial 10 burner gas stove with 2 ovens. All these improvements made using the kitchen much more efficient for events.