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Lexington Tool Library opens with ‘pay what you can’ model

Bolt cutters are among the many items available for checkout at the Lexington Tool Library.
Lexington Tool Library
Bolt cutters are among the many items available for checkout at the Lexington Tool Library.

People in the Lexington area who need tools now have a place to turn other than the local hardware store or next-door neighbor. The Lexington Tool Library opened last week in the Black and Williams Center, at the United Way WayPoint Center on Georgetown Street. Jess Estridge, a volunteer there, said it works very much like a regular library.

“We want to be able to give people access to tools that they may not be able to afford by themselves, whether it is just because they need it for a single, small task, or they have emergency repair they need to make.”

Estridge said the loaner tools are donated, some from the Louisville Tool Library, and can be checked out on a “pay what you can” basis. He said the library has a wide and growing variety of tools available for check-out.

“DIY home repair tools, whether it's jig saws, hammers, miter saws, things like that. We have some gardening and lawn tools, I think we've had several dozen shovels donated so far, lots of ladders.”

Estridge said hopes the Lexington Tool Library will one day have such things as inflatable kayaks and electric lawn mowers to loan. Meantime, he said, there are no overdue fees.

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John McGary is a Lexington native and Navy veteran with three decades of radio, television and newspaper experience.
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