More than tools: Community, access, hope made practical
If you walk through Paradise on a summer afternoon, you’ll see neighbors in their yards trimming branches, repairing fences, tending gardens. But behind many of these projects is a shared challenge: tools are expensive, and not everyone has the necessary tools to keep their property safe and beautiful.
The Paradise Tool Lending Library was born to change that. More than a set of shelves with tools, it’s a community beehive where resources, skills, and connection is shared for the good of all.
First comes connection, then the projects; the Library gives that spirit a place to live.
The Paradise Tool Library will help you:
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Get access to landscaping and home improvement tools
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Connect with your community
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Learn practical ways to maintain and improve your homes and properties
We need your help to:
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Establish a physical library location at the Paradise Community Garden
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Fill gaps in the Library tool inventory
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Host workshops on topics like tool selection and use, firewise landscaping, home improvement tips, and more.
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Spread the word to attract members, volunteers and funders!
IMAGINE THIS
A retiree learns to use a hedge trimmer at a Library workshop safely, then goes home to clear fire hazards with new confidence. Picture a young family, new to the Ridge, attending a Library workshop to learn safe chainsaw use, the smell of fresh-cut pine in the air, and their kids giggling as they drag away small branches for the burn pile. See a teen volunteer wheeling a borrowed barrow of soil up a steep driveway, stopping to chat with the elderly neighbor who asked for help starting her first wildflower garden since the fire.
​Different stories, same outcome: people helping people, and the whole community becoming safer and more connected in the process.
Though it seems like a relatively unique idea, around 40 community tool libraries already exist throughout the United States. Each has its own unique flavor but most operate roughly the same way by accepting tool donations from the community and then lending those tools out for free—or nearly free—to anyone capable of presenting an ID and signing a waiver.
Learn & Teach
Have an idea or skill to share with your community? Let's organize a workshop!
