They lift your spirits, prompt you to think, make you feel grateful and inspire you to do more. They connect you to our community, shining a spotlight on what's good about our city. They're stories that are Uniquely Milwaukee.
Lee Bennett had a project.
“I’m actually cutting some wood, and I’m framing in a door opening.”
He also had a problem.
“Just so happened, my circular saw went out yesterday,” he explained. “And so I said, ‘Let me go down and see if I can borrow a circular saw from them.’”
The “them,” in this case, is the Milwaukee Tool Library, which has been welcoming people like the retired, licensed electrician — and other home-improvement entrepreneurs who might not be quite as skilled — since 2021.
Located at 1001 E. Keefe Ave., the library is a not-for-profit that lends tools to anyone who needs them for a short amount of time, from average community members right up to working contractors.
“We’re very lucky that we have a great collection of all sorts of different things that have been donated to us over the years,” said Evan Maruszewski, the library’s director of operations. “And that runs the gamut from hand tools, circular saws, hand saws, miter saws, obviously a ton of drills.
“We’ve had contractors in the past, who were just starting out, borrow our big spray guns. They didn’t want to put in or didn’t have the capital to buy that for their business, and so they borrowed it from us.”
The city of Milwaukee has its own tool loan program that’s available with an annual membership fee. The Tool Library is slightly different. Anyone can provide ID and proof of residency to rent tools for up to a week. Membership is free, and donations are always accepted.
For Maruszewski, creating the Milwaukee Tool Library helped fill a void in Milwaukee and also within himself. “I’m a lucky person who can say, ‘Now I know where I fit in my sphere of influence,’ which is tiny,” he said. “At least I can say, ‘Two days a week, I’m taking good equipment, useful equipment and putting it in the hands of people who otherwise would never have had access to it.”
On this particular Tuesday, Steve Whitson — one of the co-op’s early supporters, Maruszewski noted — donated an air-powered framing nailer and nails.. “I love tool libraries,” Whitson said. “I volunteered at a tool library in Portland, Oregon, for some years, moved to Milwaukee a couple years ago, and I’ve been watching the progress here. … I’m excited about what’s happening now.”
The space doubles as a printing lab, which helps fund operations. But that side of things ran into trouble recently when the printer broke and a large utility bill followed. Facing the prospect of closing, the organization started a GoFundMe that needed only a few days to take care of almost all of its financial issues.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” Maruszewski said. “We took a chance, and somehow enough people saw it, recognized what we were trying to do, believed in the program, and donated and saved us.”
He said these are issues facing tool libraries across the country, which makes it vital to have support and partnerships from within the community. “The only reason we’re still here,” Maruszewski said, “is because Milwaukee is incredible.”
