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.
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.
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).
Keenan Phillips, our Board Chair, 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.
Stephanie Kane, our Board Secrerary, moved to Asheville from Philadelphia, where she worked with local farmers in addition to studying and working with herb farms and small-scale medicine makers. She now works in Sourcing for Gaia Herbs. A fiber artist, herbalist, medicine maker, and DIY-er at heart, she enjoys expanding her knowledge of tools at the Tool Library and is encouraged by its capacity to expand people’s resourcefulness and skills.
Bridget Nelson, our Board Treasurer, has been involved in non-profit management for the past 20 years, as a volunteer, board member, staff, and contract administrator.
Trained in molecular ecology (MS Biology, WCU), she is owner-operator of Liminal Painting Company and City View Farm.
When not at the tool library you can probably find her in the garden or hiking a wilderness trail.
Though an Ashevillan at heart, Witek (“veetek”) was born overseas and raised in the big city. While growing up, he spent summers on a family farm in the mountains of Poland. It’s where he learned that contributing to the community should be neither an obligation nor expectation but simply a way of life. His work mind is usually spread across multiple time zones as a tech team lead in a company practicing creative and disruptive arts. He admires what the Tool Library stands for and its unique community of members, volunteers, and staff. He looks forward to helping expand the Library’s reach and impact.
Ken Kelley 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.