Author: Houston ToolBank

College Memorial Park Cemetery is one of three remaining African-American cemeteries established in Houston in the era of racial segregation.  It is located at 3605 West Dallas at Dunlavy in the historic Fourth Ward, on Lot 3, Block 48 of the O. Smith Survey in Harris County, Texas. Four thousand, four hundred graves, many of them unmarked or unidentifiable, occupy 5.2 acres.  They regularly have volunteer opportunities to preserve the cemetery and maintain its sanctity with careful attention to its history.The second Saturday of every month from 8am to noon, community volunteers are working to clean up our historic cemetery. All skill levels of work are available from chain saws to mowers to simply picking up trash. They are working from 8 am to noon, any amount of time you…

https://vimeo.com/332741995 "A Woman decided to brave the storm and stay in her house during the flooding. She ended up getting sick because of all the mold that was affecting her home. She is still keeping her faith in that her home will be restored to its original condition."   I still believe there is  a lot of people that need help; they need people to help them. One family at a time.    "With the decline in media coverage of Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath, it’s easy to drive around Houston and surrounding cities and think things are "back to normal." For tens of thousands of families, this couldn’t be further from the truth. These families are still displaced or living in unrepaired homes. The number of volunteers engaging in the recovery…

We would like to give a special shout out to Jose aka 'Punch'.  He goes above and beyond to make sure we have what we need,plus he's just a nice guy! Hurricane Harvey Made landfall on August 17, 2017 and dissipated on September 2, 2017 inflicting over 125 billion Dollars in damage displacing over 30,000 people. Although it has almost been two years since Harvey has made landfall, many people are still suffering from the damage left in the storm’s wake.  ToolBank is still offering free tool lendings for disaster work, and there are many Harvey-related community engagement projects for those who are recovering from the Hurricane; the Harvey resource fair was one.  Mardi Ward and her husband Jim Ward are with the Northeast Houston Restoration Mission centers of Houston. They…

When Gustavia Pearls Women’s Outreach held a STEM festival with over 400 attendants and vendors, the ToolBank was happy to provide some tables and chairs for the event. The festival included free food (hot dogs and icees), games and giveaways. One of the vendors present was ToolBank member agency TXRX Labs with their 3D printed creations and also some special guests such as the ghostbusters.  This festival was a perfect example of Gustavia’s mission to inspire individual advancement in women & young girls. Although young women in STEM were the focal point of this festival, all people who wanted to participate and support were welcome. There were many different activities and games available to try, from programming robots, to flying a drone, to driving a remote control system. Vendors came ready…

Memorial Hermann Greater Heights has partnered with Yvette Leno to support a community garden in Independence Heights. Beauty’s Community Garden is named after Yvette’s Grandmother, Beauty Leno,  who started the garden in December of 2012. This community garden is a fertile ground for not only the fruits and vegetables that are grown there, but also for the community that it supports.  The ToolBank tools were borrowed by the Missions Continues Valle Mallorey for a project with the Houston 2nd Platoon. Some of the tools included shovels, gloves, weed eaters, and iron rakes. All together 19 volunteers from Carmax, the Mission Continues, and the Americorps VISTA program were present.  The project was a 4 hour endeavor to tend to the garden. We repainted the shipping container that held the tools for the…

https://vimeo.com/323778758"A family is still displaced from their home from the aftermath of Harvey. Their  gratitude is  a nod to the volunteers who put their time and effort into helping rebuild the community."“It’s  a struggle between trying to survive [and] trying to make ends meet…”"With the decline in media coverage of Hurricane Harvey’s aftermath, it’s easy to drive around Houston and surrounding cities and think things are 'back to normal.' For tens of thousands of families, this couldn’t be further from the truth. These families are still displaced or living in unrepaired homes. The number of volunteers engaging in the recovery effort has also dwindled, slowing down the rate at which families can be helped.Houston Responds, and its partner coalitions have launched the 'Far From Finished' campaign to raise awareness of…

The Tool Rush is an annual garage sale style event, where we clear our warehouse of excess inventory by selling items to the community. Items are priced at an affordable rate, and range from new to more heavily used. Free entry at 8AmPLEASE NOTE: This is a first come, while supplies last event. If you're really interested in getting the best items, we suggest arriving early! All raised funds will go to our tool lending program. Enter the Tool Rush early at 7:30AM for 20$ on the day of the event*Pay cash at the entrance

This week, the ToolBank is highlighting a project done by Living Paradigm CDC. During May, they had a group of volunteers come from Wisconsin and Prairie View A & M University to help with Harvey recovery efforts. They also had help from their sister organization, PVAMU Women in architecture. The students, who were all part of the American Institute of Architecture, took the opportunity to help a recovering family by applying their skillset of architectural design. After the event, the volunteers from PVAMU AIAS wrote about their experience saying “We would like to thank all the members and or students who came out to help. This family was given this house from an older family member and it was destroyed because of Hurricane Harvey. We took the challenge to come…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3R-vXTzmsg&feature=youtu.be Recently, VICE put together documentary with the National Association of Realtors about continued efforts to recover from Harvey. Even nearly two years later families like Porfirio De Leon’s continue to face challenges as they finish their houses. At the same time, those with resources are working to elevate their houses above the 1000 year floodplain and the city of Houston is working to change building regulations. So many ToolBank partners are part of the ongoing recovery efforts.

Last week, our warehouse manager José Rodriguez was honored at Avenue CDC’s 4th annual Stories of the Northside event. In conjunction with University of Houston Downtown and Houston Metropolitan Research Center, the oral history event showcases stories from the Northline community, and also recognizes community members and nonprofit members who have helped make an impact. As Avenue’s website says, “Since 2016, we have worked with community partners to document the stories of those who have lived in the community for generations, to celebrate their accomplishments, honor their experiences, and connect younger residents with the history of their neighborhood. By connecting the past to the present, we gain greater perspectives on where we’ve been and where we’re going, and the important role each individual has to pay in the unfolding story of…