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Tool Shed lends help to tidy residents
There are several ways to help the Tool Shed, which aims to brighten city neighborhoods.
STRUTHERS — You have to go inside the ReStore to find it — an unassuming little cubicle toward the back of the building where the Neighborhood Improvement Corps is launching a big mission.
They have what you need, if you’re a low- to moderate-income Youngstown resident, to fix up your place. If enough people take advantage of the N.I.C. Tool Shed, which lends tools at no charge, says N.I.C. President Maureen O’Neil Farris, the city’s neighborhoods can get a much-needed face-lift.
Do you need to paint? They’ve got the ladders and brushes. They’ve even got the paint right now, donated by Sherwin-Williams, to supply about four to six homeowners.
Need to do yardwork?
Rod Harris of Florida Street did. He happened to be in the ReStore not long ago when he noticed the Tool Shed as it was getting some press attention, he said. The shed is new, having opened about five weeks ago, said O’Neil Farris.
Harris borrowed a weed whacker and some hedge trimmers — the electric kind.
He borrows the tools he doesn’t have or the ones that would be expensive to replace.
“I had a lawn mower die on me,” he said while at the Tool Shed this week. “I got the old-fashioned hedge trimmers.”
This weekend, he plans to borrow the shed’s trimmers again to put the finishing touches on his hedges.
“Got to finish cutting weeds down,” he added. “That’s a never-ending battle.”
Besides using the tools, which are lent out every Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, Harris said he plans to volunteer to man the shed.
Volunteers can help by doing that or by going out and helping elderly and disabled people with their yardwork and home projects, O’Neil Farris said.
A local fraternity at Youngstown State University, Alpha Phi Delta, does just that, she said: “They come every other Saturday. I take them out, and they mow lawns. They’re wonderful boys — I can’t say enough about them.”
O’Neil Farris said the Tool Shed will even accommodate community groups that are helping with projects or doing cleanups by meeting them during the week to lend tools.
Another way people can help the effort to clean up Youngstown’s neighborhoods, she said, is to donate materials or money to the Tool Shed. On the wish list is a tiller.
N.I.C. is grateful to the ReStore, run by Habitat for Humanity, for donating the space for the tools, she said.
Harris said one of his neighbors has already taken an interest in using the Tool Shed.
“It’s a great program,” he said. “I’m hoping more people find out about it.”
To find out more, call (888) 642-8665.
How to Use It
HOW TO USE IT
The Neighborhood Improvement Corps Tool Shed is open from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday. People borrowing tools are expected to return them the next week, though special arrangements can be made to keep them longer.
Community groups are welcome to use the tools. Call the Tool Shed any time to make arrangements to borrow them. There is no charge.
The Tool Shed also has paint available right now, donated by Sherwin-Williams, to accommodate four to six homeowners.
Phone: (888) 642-8665
Location: Habitat for Humanity ReStore, 480 Youngstown-Poland Road, Struthers.