tool lending program

Congratulations to the Richmond Community ToolBank for their $1,000 Green Grants award for their Community Trash Grabber Program for Litter Prevention!

Richmond ToolBank serves community-based organizations by providing tools, equipment, and expertise to empower their most ambitious goals.  Their flagship program is the ToolBank Tool Lending program.  Through this program, they provide access to over 10,000 tools to community-based organizations that do important work in Central Virginia that would otherwise not be feasible without these tools.

The Community Trash Grabber Program will empower community organizations to tackle litter and cigarette waste in parks, neighborhoods, schools, and other community spaces. This program removes a financial barrier for organizations and community groups by waiving the tool handling fees for trash grabbers, vests, and pop-up trash cans specifically for projects aimed at picking up litter and cigarette waste. ToolBank will promote this program through newsletters, social media, and postings around their warehouse.

All Richmond ToolBank tool orders are placed through their system which records the number of volunteers’ equipment, project size, and location. Through this system, reports can be easily pulled to track how many participants are participating, where, and what equipment they have.  They expect this to be a widely-used program among our current member organizations. Trash grabbers are one of our most popular items that we lend out at ToolBank, and with a higher inventory we can equip more projects and volunteers in and around Richmond.

With funds provided by the Green Grants award, Richmond ToolBank will purchase 60 sturdy trash grabbers and 16 pop-up trash cans.  These tools will provide groups with a safe and efficient way to host a litter cleanup, and will empower community organizations to tackle litter and cigarette waste in parks, neighborhoods, schools, and other community spaces. The program removes a financial barrier for organizations and community groups by waiving the tool handling fees for trash grabbers, vests, and pop-up trash cans specifically for projects aimed at picking up litter and cigarette waste.

The Trash Grabber Program will strengthen Richmond ToolBank’s commitment to empowering communities. By addressing litter issues, the program aligns with our mission of supporting neighborhood revitalization and fostering civic engagement.

Thank you for the work you’re doing, and help others to do, in your community!