Northeast Tool Library Moves to Former Dairy Location

The Northeast Seattle Tool Library, a fantastic resource that until now was located on NE 80th where you could borrow tools for free, is moving to the former LaVilla Dairy location, 10228 Fischer Place, just across Lake City Way on the eastern border of Victory Heights.
It will be fully up and operational by March but meanwhile a major challenge is the monthly rent. The current cash flow is not sufficient to cover it, although long term growth should take care of it. You can help by renewing your membership, starting a membership if not a member, and/or making a one time donation.
For a sneak preview inside, visit during the open house, Saturday January 27th from 2 – 4pm.
Press release!:
Dear NESTL Members Past and Present,
We are incredibly happy to announce that we have a new home!  We have agreed in principle to lease the bottom half of the LaVilla dairy building at 10228 Fischer Pl NE, just east of Lake City Way, north of  NE 98th. This space has many great features, including room for a dedicated shop space, extra space for tool storage, and plenty of parking. The upstairs office space will be leased by CB Construction, with whom we look forward to collaborating.
There will be a few changes as we move north sometime this spring  We’ve enjoyed partnering with the Bike Shack for the last five years, and in our new space we’ll have a bike repair area as well.  This will be managed by volunteers Chad Jacobsen and Sachi Wilson, and will be a Tool Library run venture.  We’ll be looking for volunteers to help staff the bike area, so if you have an interest in this, let us know!  Our branch of the King County Seed Library will come along with us to the new space, with more breathing room to peruse seeds for this year’s growing season.
As we make plans to move, we want to extend a heartfelt thanks to the North Seattle Friends Church.  The generosity of the Friends congregation allowed us to get started and to grow as quickly as we have. Thanks also to Cleanscapes for funding our initial efforts, and to the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods for funding our first paid staff, Dave Gifford.  We thank Dave and Sara Kautz, our second coordinator, for all the work they did to improve the operations of the library and to recruit and train new volunteers.  Chris Lemmen and Mike Murphy, our current coordinators, are busy planning the move and salivating over the new opportunities this space will provide. Thanks to them as well!
We wouldn’t be where we are now without our paid staff and incredible volunteers.  It’s really the volunteer staffers, tool fixers, bookkeepers, inventory managers, website tinkerers and library steering committee members that have made this project happen. Many thanks to all of you!
There will be lots of chances to help as we get ready to move, but here’s the one thing we ask now- continue to be a supporting member of the library. As we now will have a hefty rent bill each month, we will raise our suggested yearly donation to $50.00.   If your membership has lapsed, take a few minutes today to renew it.  The best way to make sure this amazing community asset stays strong is to support it.   Here’s a link to our paypal  page- you can renew your membership with a donation and a quick e-mail or phone call to the library.
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=wOgffUFDEcCGOL08pR4jzHCeeR72_L-DVVYUTaTrj2pmb0CZ-CiUYZn3e-U9vckckNbteG&country.x=US&locale.x=US
Next time you are heading up Lake City, take a detour on Fischer Pl and check out the cool old dairy building. It’s a local gem, and we are grateful that we get to make it our next home!
All the best for 2018!
NE Seattle Tool Library