Acerca de Asheville Tool Library
Nuestra misión es brindar acceso de bajo costo a una amplia gama de herramientas, literatura y conocimiento a los ciudadanos del oeste de Carolina del Norte.
Nuestra visión en Asheville Tool Library es empoderar a las personas y a la comunidad en general a través de recursos que fomentan la sostenibilidad, la rehabilitación, la creatividad, el espíritu empresarial, la habitabilidad y el desarrollo comunitario en todo el oeste de Carolina del Norte. Asheville Tool Library abordará directamente el problema de la desigualdad socioeconómica que existe en el oeste de Carolina del Norte al brindar acceso a herramientas, educación y otros recursos a bajo costo o sin costo a todos los miembros de nuestra comunidad.
Our Staff
The Tool Library has a passionate Library Manager to coordinate the day-to-day operations. They are enthusiastic about building & being a part of nutritive mutual aid networks and anything that puts the power into the peoples hands (or paws, fins, hooves, claws or root tendrils).
Ken Kelley, our Board Chair, was born “Down East” in Washington NC, in a house that he and his father built (His dad first built it in 1948 and then he and Ken renovated it together in 1968). He was raised in Virginia, Puerto Rico and California. During his 20+ years in the US Navy he was stationed in Florida, California, Oregon, Guam, Puerto Rico, and Virginia. He was introduced to tools and DIY at an early age. He is now an ambassador for fixing things, maintaining things, and building things. He is all in for tools.
Keenan Phillips, our Board Treasurer, is an experienced tinkerer, mechanic, and builder, pictured in front of the 5th small home he’s built in the Burnsville, NC area. He is most excited about bringing more education and learning opportunities around building to the amazing community resource that is the Asheville Tool Library.
Elli, our Board Secretary, has been a volunteer at the tool library since moving to the area in 2023. As an environmental scientist, she is a data manager, wetland walker, and scientific diver. She loves being a part of the tool library, but the other things that keep her busy include her garden, hiking, house and boat renos, and food preservation.
Brian Warshawsky, our Board Vice Chair, was formerly the CEO and co-founder of Fenix/ENGIE energy access, an Africa focused energy company that has brought solar electrification to 12m+ Africans across 9 countries. Brian is an engineer and long time DIY maker who has been volunteering at the tool library since moving to Asheville in 2023. Brian grew up in Minnesota, lived in and around San Francisco for 20 years & spent a bunch of time in Africa and France before moving to Asheville. Brian enjoys exploring the mountains by bike or on foot with his dog Ribo.
Nuestra historia
Seguimos trabajando duro para servir a nuestra comunidad y crear un ejemplo próspero de la economía colaborativa que esperamos nos sobreviva a todos. A través del trabajo diligente de nuestra Mesa Directiva y voluntarios actuales, Asheville Tool Library se ha convertido en un gran aparte para hacer que nuestra ciudad sea más sustentable e ingeniosa.
2013 - Conceptualización
La biblioteca de herramientas de Asheville fue conceptualizada por Nick Letts, Julian Dominic y Tom Llewellyn. Pasaron los siguientes dos años y medio construyendo el apoyo de la comunidad y el respaldo financiero para comenzar a pasar del concepto a una biblioteca de herramientas de la vida real.
2016 - Gran Apertura
Después de que los tres fundadores originales se mudaron de Asheville, Ben Harper y Kara Sweeney lograron la apertura de nuestra primera ubicación en 133 Church St.
2018 - Putting Down Roots
We established our own non-profit and expanded to a 1100 sq. ft. space. The next several years were spent building up our inventory of over 2000 tools which are available to hundreds of members.
2022 - Growth!
We hired our Library Manager - our first employee - in 2021. After we found out our building was being redeveloped, we found a 2000 sq. ft. space, doubling our footprint and providing room for the maintenance team to grow. We initiated our first major collaboration with the Repair Cafe and will now be hosting their regular tool repair workshops.
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