A brief history of bicycle sustainability at the ToolBox Project

Did you know at one time we excluded bike tools from inventory? Pretty early on, our Operations Committee decided to let the University of Oregon Bike Program Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Workspace and the Center for Appropriate Transport (CAT) at 1st Avenue and Washington Street serve the needs of DIY bike mechanics in the community. We wanted to focus on unmet needs, and we didn't want to duplicate available resources.

Then COVID-19 came along, with the pandemic and lockdowns. At first the DIY Workspace was totally closed, then later open in very limited fashion. CAT shut down and stayed closed. Ultimately Better Eugene-Springfield Transportation (BEST) formed the Nexus for Eugene Sustainable Transportation (NEST), and acquired the assets and programs of CAT.

We were cautiously opening back up ourselves, after government-mandated closures, figuring out the best protocols to ensure our members' safety and health, even as we continued to support people's agency and independence. We thought of all those unserved cyclists. We went whole hog and kitted up the tool library inventory with things for bikes. Volunteers and borrowers donated spare tools from their own collections, putting together a toolbox filled with bike tools for repair and maintenance projects that you could do at home.  Some of us talked Craigslist sellers into donating or discounting their items. A volunteer solicited a wheel truing stand from Arriving By Bike, and the shop owner was happy to give us one.

To cap off all that action, one active volunteer on their own applied for a 2023 grant from New Belgium Brewing's Bicycle Advocacy Grant program on our behalf, and we got it. We are proud to join other recipients—like the PeopleForBikes Foundation and The Crucible, an industrial arts school in Oakland, California—plus programs like "'Fix-It Friday' Bike Education for Kids", and Fix-It DFW in Dallas Fort-Worth, Texas.

With that grant money, we added another general purpose bike repair tool kit that we thought might address some borrowers' needs better than our original bike tools set, plus some other "shade tree mechanic"  bike tools. The crowning purchase was a pre-owned Burley Travoy cargo bike trailer. Burley grew up here in Eugene, just like us. They are international now, and maybe the ToolBox Project will be, too, some day.

It feels really good to get support, and money like this, for what we do for our community. Talk about a vote of confidence. See all the bike stuff in our tool inventory.

We purchased new tools through our good friends at Shift Community Cycles, and picked them up by bike. Shift has bike stands that community members can use, and its volunteer mechanics may be able to help you with that project that's beyond what you can do at home. Shift has been offering regular how-to classes where you can learn more about your ride, how it works, and how to maintain it. R.I.P. CAT; long live Shift!

Not into bikes? We have some other do-it-yourself things besides our general construction, building repair, and yard and garden tools, including computer repair tools, wood burning, and leather craft kits.

Please let us know what you think you and your neighbors could use. See our updated Wish List, and let us know what to add to it. Or even better, donate it. You can always come back and check out your old friend, right?