A personal note from Executive Director Sharayah Kinney
My last day as a staff Executive Director will be on Friday, 5/8. The tool library does not have the money to fund an Executive Director and has decided to restructure staff to be able to stay open.
You all know that I absolutely love TTL and that I am beyond passionate about its mission!! I will be taking a few months break, but I will be back volunteering soon!
Read on for more details in a statement from the board of directors.
Funding Statement from the Tacoma Tool Library Board of Directors
Tacoma Tool Library is serving more people than ever before! We are seeing record numbers of active members, tools checked out, and new members. In the last month, we checked out 1589 tools to 342 members — that’s a 35% increase compared to this time last year.
We have been able to stay afloat through donor support and the doubling of our membership base. But the non-profit funding landscape is changing, and Tacoma Tool Library has not received any new grant funding for over a year.
At this time, TTL will no longer have a paid Executive Director or Repair Coordinator. Tool lending will continue to be led by a Program Coordinator with support from volunteers. Our weekly programs of Make It Sew and Fix-it Nights will now be volunteer-led and volunteer-run. This means that if we do not have adequate volunteers, we will need to cancel a day of tool lending, Fix-it Nights or Make It Sew.
In the spirit of community resilience, we are requesting your support Please consider donating online or signing up to volunteer. Together we can empower local residents to care for their homes and neighborhoods, house by house and block by block.
