Meet the ToolBox Project's Board of Directors
Isabelle Le, Board President
Favorite Tool: Scissors - practical, handy, and so versatile.
Favorite DIY Project: Building our outdoor garden area from a collection of found and given shelving, tools, coverings and plants. It started as a couple pots and my insistence that my partner help me figure out where I could install a pegboard but now it's grown. All the puns intended!
Why I wanted to get involved with the ToolBox Project: I wanted to learn how to repair things so I wouldn't have to keep buying things and contributing to waste. I wanted to use some tools that I don't own. I wanted to get inspired by my community, meet my neighbors, and get some help on projects. The ToolBox Project is the perfect space for that, and I hope to support their efforts to get tools, resources and skills into the hands of more people.
My Background: I grew up in Hawaii, where I learned about sustainability and community responsibility from Kanaka Maoli culture. I studied at Pitzer College in California, and learned the importance of empowering our communities and our selves, by working with and learning from people in the institution and the surrounding neighborhoods. After graduation, I taught at a high school in Miami with AmeriCorps, where I got to put these skills to the test in a completely new environment. Now I live in Eugene, where I work in Human Resources at Emergence. If the common thread through my life is trying to learn skills and share them with my community, along with the tools to be able to use them, then I believe the ToolBox Project is a great place to be. Ask me about my plants, cats or fish.
Favorite Tool: Scissors - practical, handy, and so versatile.
Favorite DIY Project: Building our outdoor garden area from a collection of found and given shelving, tools, coverings and plants. It started as a couple pots and my insistence that my partner help me figure out where I could install a pegboard but now it's grown. All the puns intended!
Why I wanted to get involved with the ToolBox Project: I wanted to learn how to repair things so I wouldn't have to keep buying things and contributing to waste. I wanted to use some tools that I don't own. I wanted to get inspired by my community, meet my neighbors, and get some help on projects. The ToolBox Project is the perfect space for that, and I hope to support their efforts to get tools, resources and skills into the hands of more people.
My Background: I grew up in Hawaii, where I learned about sustainability and community responsibility from Kanaka Maoli culture. I studied at Pitzer College in California, and learned the importance of empowering our communities and our selves, by working with and learning from people in the institution and the surrounding neighborhoods. After graduation, I taught at a high school in Miami with AmeriCorps, where I got to put these skills to the test in a completely new environment. Now I live in Eugene, where I work in Human Resources at Emergence. If the common thread through my life is trying to learn skills and share them with my community, along with the tools to be able to use them, then I believe the ToolBox Project is a great place to be. Ask me about my plants, cats or fish.
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Paul Wilson, Board Member
Favorite Tool: Soldering iron: Without my trusty baby blue 25 watt Weller iron, repair projects from planers and accordions to clocks and music synthesizers would be impossible. Favorite DIY Project: My all purpose AC/DC work bench power supply. Why I wanted to get involved with the ToolBox Project: In my retirement, I wanted to be involved in something that adds value to the community and to the physical environment. The ToolBox Project does both by providing our community with access to good quality tools at low cost, and by giving the earth a break from the endless resource extraction required for the manufacture of new tools for every consumer. As an adherent to the reduce/reuse/recycle philosophy, I feel like the ToolBox Project is an integral piece of the 3R puzzle. |
My Background: After a childhood on an Oklahoma farm, I studied Aeronautical Engineering Technology at Oklahoma State University, a field in which I was never employed. A somewhat short first career in radiopharmaceutical manufacturing (Texas) was followed by a second and longer career in radiological environmental remediation (New Mexico), and finally, a 21 year career as Facilities Manager for a large local biotech company. After retirement and volunteer stints at Ophelia’s Place and ShelterCare, I finally landed at the ToolBox Project. Besides my term on the ToolBox Project board, I am a member of the Operations Committee, and work intermittently as a tool librarian and tool repairman.
Neil Mark Harvey, Board Member
Favorite Tool: Cider press. I am originally from England and grew up in the southwest of the country, known for its cider.
Favorite DIY Project: I like small projects of various kinds, fixing things and avoiding the need to replace them.
Why I wanted to get involved with the ToolBox Project: Initially, I lived directly across the street from the tool library and wanted to get involved in something that contributed to my neighborhood and the surrounding area. I have enjoyed seeing the benefits of community tool sharing in bringing the community together, providing low cost access to tools and reducing consumption. As someone who has lived most of his life in apartments, I also appreciate knowing tools of all kinds are available to those with limited options for storage.
My Background: I spent my childhood in Wiltshire, England. After gaining a psychology degree, I worked with adults and children with cognitive disabilities and severe challenging behavior for many years. I then spent almost a decade working on a large-scale, longitudinal study of twins assisting the director with administration, logistics, and grant applications. Life led me to Eugene, where I became a real estate agent with InEugene Real Estate. I have served as a volunteer tool librarian, on various committees, and am currently both a board member and member of the fundraising committee. I am also a business sponsor of this amazing community resource.
Favorite Tool: Cider press. I am originally from England and grew up in the southwest of the country, known for its cider.
Favorite DIY Project: I like small projects of various kinds, fixing things and avoiding the need to replace them.
Why I wanted to get involved with the ToolBox Project: Initially, I lived directly across the street from the tool library and wanted to get involved in something that contributed to my neighborhood and the surrounding area. I have enjoyed seeing the benefits of community tool sharing in bringing the community together, providing low cost access to tools and reducing consumption. As someone who has lived most of his life in apartments, I also appreciate knowing tools of all kinds are available to those with limited options for storage.
My Background: I spent my childhood in Wiltshire, England. After gaining a psychology degree, I worked with adults and children with cognitive disabilities and severe challenging behavior for many years. I then spent almost a decade working on a large-scale, longitudinal study of twins assisting the director with administration, logistics, and grant applications. Life led me to Eugene, where I became a real estate agent with InEugene Real Estate. I have served as a volunteer tool librarian, on various committees, and am currently both a board member and member of the fundraising committee. I am also a business sponsor of this amazing community resource.
Deb Jones, Board Member
Favorite tool: A hori hori, a Japanese style garden tool good for digging and cutting. How did I ever live without this for most of my life? I got one 5 years ago and it replaces four other garden tools.
Favorite DIY project: Laying the pavers for a new walkway to my front porch. They are still tight and flat after 10 years.
Why I wanted to get involved: I've been a ToolBox Project volunteer since the beginning, and I have served as our bookkeeper and tool librarian. Serving on the board now suits my evolving interest in this great organization. While I grew up with a dad who had to own specialty tools for every project, now sharing tools makes so much more sense to me. I previously lived in a cohousing community for 10 years. Sharing the tools of daily living was part of the community fabric -- shared laundry machines, lawn mowers, a wood shop, garden tools.
Background: I have worked for and volunteered for many community organizations.
Favorite tool: A hori hori, a Japanese style garden tool good for digging and cutting. How did I ever live without this for most of my life? I got one 5 years ago and it replaces four other garden tools.
Favorite DIY project: Laying the pavers for a new walkway to my front porch. They are still tight and flat after 10 years.
Why I wanted to get involved: I've been a ToolBox Project volunteer since the beginning, and I have served as our bookkeeper and tool librarian. Serving on the board now suits my evolving interest in this great organization. While I grew up with a dad who had to own specialty tools for every project, now sharing tools makes so much more sense to me. I previously lived in a cohousing community for 10 years. Sharing the tools of daily living was part of the community fabric -- shared laundry machines, lawn mowers, a wood shop, garden tools.
Background: I have worked for and volunteered for many community organizations.
Josh Cochrane, Board Member
Favorite Tool: Pressure washer. I’m a big fan of making things clean and tidy.
Favorite DIY Project: Remodeling the kitchen in a past home — all of it except the part where I slightly, just barely, electrocuted myself reinstalling a cooktop.
Why I wanted to get involved with the ToolBox Project: After years of supporting entrepreneurs and nonprofits through my professional work, I jumped at the chance to do hands-on planning and financial management for a positive local organization.
My Background: I grew up in Eugene and, other than a brief flirtation with law school back in Atlanta, have lived here most of my life. For the past decade-plus, I’ve been head of product for Palo Alto Software. Our LivePlan software helps people of all backgrounds plan, run, and grow their own businesses.
Favorite Tool: Pressure washer. I’m a big fan of making things clean and tidy.
Favorite DIY Project: Remodeling the kitchen in a past home — all of it except the part where I slightly, just barely, electrocuted myself reinstalling a cooktop.
Why I wanted to get involved with the ToolBox Project: After years of supporting entrepreneurs and nonprofits through my professional work, I jumped at the chance to do hands-on planning and financial management for a positive local organization.
My Background: I grew up in Eugene and, other than a brief flirtation with law school back in Atlanta, have lived here most of my life. For the past decade-plus, I’ve been head of product for Palo Alto Software. Our LivePlan software helps people of all backgrounds plan, run, and grow their own businesses.
Steve Bade, Board Secretary
Favorite Tool: The ToolBox Project's longest level ( link ) -- until we get a longer one. My second favorite tool is any of our chop saws aka (sliding) (compound) miter saws. You can cut all the way through a 4x4 in one pass with the 14" blade on our Makita #591 ( link ), and we've got a metal cutting blade for that baby.
Favorite DIY Project: The door on my family's trustworthy and dare I say beloved daily use countertop convection/toaster oven wouldn't stay closed. It took me a while to think of this even after taking the oven apart, but a heat-safe ceramic super-magnet solved the problem and has been working for years. We may get more than two decades of use from that appliance.
Why I wanted to get involved with the ToolBox Project: I used the tool lending library integrated into the public (conventional/traditional) public library when I lived in Berkeley California, and got to know one of its longtime employees a little when he & I were next-door neighbors in Oakland. ( Yo, Adam! ) I've visited all of the tool lending libraries in Portland at least once. Sharing resources just make sense.
My Background: I am a 15+ year resident of Eugene. I hold a Masters Degree in Library & Information Science plus a certificate in Systems Analysis, and have volunteered and worked for and in libraries of all types over the last thirty years, including a corporate legal department law library, a theological library, the DataCenter in Oakland, California, the library at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the California Digital Library, and I worked for a library software company for a time. In addition to yardening and maintaining and fixing and making stuff around my South Eugene suburban homestead I served two terms on the City's Active Transportation Committee and currently serve on the Board of Directors of Better Eugene Springfield Transportation aka BEST. I and my family leave home for work, recreation, errands, etc. mostly on foot or by bike.
Favorite Tool: The ToolBox Project's longest level ( link ) -- until we get a longer one. My second favorite tool is any of our chop saws aka (sliding) (compound) miter saws. You can cut all the way through a 4x4 in one pass with the 14" blade on our Makita #591 ( link ), and we've got a metal cutting blade for that baby.
Favorite DIY Project: The door on my family's trustworthy and dare I say beloved daily use countertop convection/toaster oven wouldn't stay closed. It took me a while to think of this even after taking the oven apart, but a heat-safe ceramic super-magnet solved the problem and has been working for years. We may get more than two decades of use from that appliance.
Why I wanted to get involved with the ToolBox Project: I used the tool lending library integrated into the public (conventional/traditional) public library when I lived in Berkeley California, and got to know one of its longtime employees a little when he & I were next-door neighbors in Oakland. ( Yo, Adam! ) I've visited all of the tool lending libraries in Portland at least once. Sharing resources just make sense.
My Background: I am a 15+ year resident of Eugene. I hold a Masters Degree in Library & Information Science plus a certificate in Systems Analysis, and have volunteered and worked for and in libraries of all types over the last thirty years, including a corporate legal department law library, a theological library, the DataCenter in Oakland, California, the library at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, the California Digital Library, and I worked for a library software company for a time. In addition to yardening and maintaining and fixing and making stuff around my South Eugene suburban homestead I served two terms on the City's Active Transportation Committee and currently serve on the Board of Directors of Better Eugene Springfield Transportation aka BEST. I and my family leave home for work, recreation, errands, etc. mostly on foot or by bike.