Sharing is in style at SE Portland Tool Library

Community comes together to share tools, knowledge and reduce waste

By Jeff Horne
The Portland Upside
February 2010

Volunteers work on getting the SE Portland Tool Library ready while having some fun in the process. Left to right: Cedar, Charles Reid, Chris New (kneeling), Aaron Tarfman, Ginny Benware

I moved to Southeast Portland from Los Angeles about two years ago. When I initially heard about Portland’s tool libraries—mystical places where members of the community can borrow home and garden tools free of charge—I thought, “Wow, Portlanders are crazy!” And I wondered if it actually works.

In fact, the tool libraries in North and Northeast Portland are wildly successful. The library in Northeast Portland (NEPTL), for example, has up to 200 visitors a day during the summer months. Over 85 percent of the tools are donated, with such an abundance of gifts that NEPTL has generously re-gifted over 200 tools to help get a new library started in Southeast Portland.

Steve Couche, a Reed neighborhood resident, is leading the recent Southeast effort. He got the ball rolling by finding a space, securing some grant money and holding a meeting in early December. When neighbors heard about the effort to bring a tool library to Southeast, many went to the meeting and got on board. We have already secured an additional grant from the Rebuilding Center, created a website and Facebook page, and started other outreach efforts. We’re now getting ready to renovate the space.

Why has Steve gone to all this trouble?

“The tool library will help solidify neighborhood cohesiveness by being a gathering place for neighbors to borrow tools that other neighbors donated to the library. Workshops will empower people to make lifestyle changes to more sustainable practices like seed saving and rain barrel construction. And it will save us all money,” he says with a smile.

Sounds good to me!

How often do you purchase a specialized tool that you use only once and then, if you’re lucky, use again ten years down the road? Having every person each purchase their own set of tools is a tremendous waste, in a time of diminishing natural resources. Does it make sense for me and every one of my neighbors to own an 18-foot ladder, tree pruners, and post diggers when there’s almost no chance that we’ll all be using these tools at the same time? Why not share? Isn’t that one of the fundamental lessons we’re taught as kids? Why did we forget?

“Don’t people steal the tools?” you wonder. I asked the same thing. Apparently they do not. Tom Thompson of NEPTL says they’ve lost about a dozen tools of the 4,000 loaner tools they’ve handed out. Sounds like a pretty good ratio to me.

That’s what the tool library is all about. It’s a lesson in sharing and community which offers neighbors the chance to say, “Hey, I really need this tool, but once I’m done with it, it’s going to sit in my garage and gather dust. I’m going to give it to the tool library. While I’m there, I might pick up a pipe wrench and some pliers for a plumbing project I have.”

The Southeast Tool Library is an all-volunteer effort, which means the people involved want to create a new way of doing business in their community. Neighbors with spare tools donate inventory. Neighbors with free time help keep the library running smoothly. Neighbors with neither money nor time get a little relief by being able to borrow tools they’d otherwise have to buy.

Having free tools to borrow can also help beautify and maintain our neighborhoods by allowing folks access to tools they may not want to buy. Rather than ignoring much needed gutter repair or gardening work, they get the tools they need to get the job done. The library also plans to host workshops to empower do-it-yourself folks by connecting them with knowledgeable neighbors. Classes will emphasize sustainable projects and practices.

When’s the Southeast Tool Library coming? We’re getting closer to opening every day, with the estimated opening slated for May 2010. We will be housed at the St. David of Wales Episcopal Church, located at 2800 SE Harrison.

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Want to know more or get involved? Visit us online at our new website: http://septl.org Or contact Steve Couche at 503-232-0699 or steveco1948@comcast.net

Jeff Horne is a Southeast Portland resident, environmentalist, yogi, gardener and food security advocate. He’s a board member of the Richmond Neighborhood Association where he is a co-chair of the Sustainability Committee. He is also co-founder of the Crappy Chess Players Club. Contact Jeff at mailjeffh@yahoo.com