Peterborough Tool Library To Move To Habitat For Humanity

The Peterborough Tool Library will soon be under the management of Habitat for Humanity Peterborough & Kawartha Region, moving from its current home at the Endeavour Centre.

File Photo.

The Tool Library was started in May 2006 by a group of volunteers and has been housed and run by The Endeavour Centre since it was founded. The Tool Library is a community resource that allows members to borrow unlimited tools all year round for a low annual membership fee.

The decision to find a new home for the Tool Library was made after the Endeavour Centre, a sustainable building school, needed to reorganize after two years of navigating the pandemic. Finding a new home where the Tool Library and its vibrant hub of volunteers could continue to grow and expand was important to the Endeavour team.

“We are really excited to see the Tool Library move under the Habitat umbrella. We couldn’t think of a more suitable organization to run the library and continue the mission of growing the sharing economy while providing affordable access to tools. There could really not be a better fit,” said Jen Feigin, Director of Operations at Endeavour and founding member of the Tool Library.

The Tool Library will be closing for the month of February and will reopen at its new location inside the Peterborough North ReStore located at 300 Milroy Dr in Peterborough on March 1. New expanded hours for the Tool Library’s services will be announced in February.

“The community will now be able to go shop for their gently used building materials, furniture, appliances, and home décor items, and borrow the tools they need while they are at it. Both shopping second hand and participating in a community tool library is a great way to lower your carbon footprint,” said Nikki-Ann Murray, the Tool Library’s Volunteer Coordinator.

Tool Library Memberships can be purchased in early march.

For more information on the Habitat ReStore visit www.habitatpkr.ca/restores and for more information on the Tool Library please visit www.ptbotoollibrary.ca.

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New Startup Peterborough Tool Library Is Awesome

UPDATE: April 17th. The Indiegogo campaign is 67% of the way there in their final week. Click here to help them reach their goal.

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UPDATE: March 30th. The Indiegogo campaign to raise money for this amazing concept has gone live. Click here to check it out and give.

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ORIGINAL POST

This is awesome: Peterborough's first Tool Library is starting up. Think of the tool library as like a typical library but for tools instead of books. The not-for-profit Peterborough Tool Library provides community members access to hundreds of tools that they may need to make their projects happen.

Members of the Peterborough Tool Library will have access to a wide variety of household and construction tools. The founders take care of the purchasing, storage, maintenance and hassles of owning tools—and people simply borrow the tools they need when they need them.

Peterborough Tool Library founders: Jen Feigin, Chris Magwood, Tessa Nasca, Dave Hope, Pete Mack and Hillary Manion. (Absent: Lindsay Stroud) PHOTO By Tony Armstrong

The Peterborough Tool Library is comprised up of seven dedicated community members—Jen Feigin, Chris Magwood, Tessa Nasca, Dave Hope, Pete Mack, Hillary Manion and Lindsay Stroud—who came together around a shared vision of fostering creativity and self-sufficiency in our community, while contributing to a sustainable local sharing economy.

The committee also wants to provide access to tools for those that cannot afford them, as many folks do not have the money to invest in their own collection of tools. That is why their membership is so affordable.

For just $50 a year, members have access to hundreds of high quality tools. They even offer a reduced student rate ($40) and a sliding scale for folks that cannot afford the full membership.

The committee is currently creating an Indiegogo campaign—it should be live by mid-March—so that community members can show their support for the Tool Library by purchasing their membership in advance. If the campaign is a success, they will be opening their doors to members in May—and be housed at the Endeavour Centre, a not-for-profit sustainable building school on High Street.

Meet the Tool Library committee! We're working hard to give access to hundreds of tools for $50/yr @Ptbo_Canada #DIY pic.twitter.com/dtc0PlMirb

— Ptbo Tool Library (@PtboToolLibrary) March 1, 2016

The Tool Library is a not-for-profit initiative, and all of the money they collect will go towards updating and maintaining their tool collection. Once they open their doors, they will be looking for volunteers to help staff the Tool Library.

For information on memberships and volunteering, get in touch with Jen Feigin at info@ptbotoollibrary.ca. You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

—By Aaron Elliott

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