WELCOME TO THE TOOLBANK USA TEAM…
Our team has the pleasure of announcing 2 new team members! Please join us in welcoming Adam Phlegar and Art Garciacano!
In January, Adam joined the ToolBank USA Team as the Manager of Special Projects and Assets. Adam is originally from the small town of Vinton, VA where he made his way to the Metro-Richmond area for college and grad school. He met his wonderful bride while attending Randolph-Macon College and got married in 2008. They have two amazing kids and a four-legged family member.
In 2015, he started volunteering with the Richmond ToolBank when they first opened their doors and then transitioned into a part-time position in 2016. In 2019, Adam shifted to a full-time employee at the Richmond ToolBank as Program Manager where he oversaw the Tool Lending and Building Change programs. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, being outside, golfing, and watching sports.
Art is a US Marine Corps Veteran, having served over 13 years of active duty. He began volunteering alongside our Director of ToolBank Disaster Services, Bill Hess, at the Palms Spring Home Depot Community Build Invitational in August of 2023 and joined our ToolBank USA team in January of 2024 as the West Territory Manager-TDS-Los Angeles.
MLK Day of Service across the ToolBank Network
On Monday, January 15, 2024, while many people enjoyed a day off, employees from TEKsystems volunteered at 10 different ToolBank locations for their Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. Volunteers partnered up with the ToolBank teams at each of the following warehouse locations: Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, New Orleans, Phoenix, Richmond, and Tampa. Groups performed various warehouse jobs as well as a few picnic table build projects to benefit local nonprofit organizations. Each location had between 20 and 40 volunteers from TEKsystems.
Check out what’s going on at each of our ToolBanks across the nation. Scroll down to each affiliate and expand the text block to read more about your favorite ToolBank team. All of our affiliates are doing amazing work and we can’t wait to share their updates with you monthly.
Make sure and scroll through the images to the right of our affiliate updates. Most of the updates come with a couple of images related to their article.
Atlanta ToolBank Update:
It’s hard to believe it’s already February. It seems like yesterday we were saying goodbye to 2023 and welcoming 2024. This year is set to be a big one for the ToolBank. We’ll be growing, adding services, expanding our staff, and hopefully serving more clients, enabling them to accomplish more than ever before. From me to me, I hope to send out a few updates and bits of information to keep our friends informed about what’s happening at the ToolBank, and sometimes add an invite to join us for community, conversations, refreshments, and bonding on a Friday afternoon.
In Memoriam: We have some unfortunate news to share. Many of you know Adam Meade, who served as ToolBank’s Director of Community Engagement for the past seven years. Adam passed away on January 31 after a long and courageous battle with cancer. Adam was truly a remarkable individual who left a lasting impression on everyone he encountered. He worked tirelessly to advance ToolBank’s mission, leading our community engagement, marketing, fundraising, and most importantly, our Friend Raising efforts. We at the ToolBank are thinking hard about how to honor Adam’s amazing life and the legacy he left behind. I am sure that sometime soon, we’ll be inviting Adam’s many friends to stop by the ToolBank to celebrate him. This one-of-a-kind individual will be greatly missed by his family, his friends, and everybody in the ToolBank world.
Baltimore ToolBank Update:
The Baltimore Community ToolBank turned the MLK Day of Service into a week of service with three projects! 56 volunteers joined for a total of 140 hours of service over three project days. Partners included the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland, TEKsystems, and Clark Construction.
Charlotte ToolBank Update:
We’d like to take this time to honor our 2023 ToolBank of the Year…The Charlotte ToolBank! Congratulations to Maureen Krueger and her staff. They had a fabulous 2023 and could not have gained this achievement without the support of their staff, volunteers, board members, and donors. We’re looking forward to seeing what they do in 2024 and wishing them the best as our ToolBank of the Year! Also, please take a look at their new social media icon…it has an awesome Golden Hammer icon that we look forward to having future ToolBanks of the Year display when they win this award.
Cincinnati ToolBank Update:
At the end of 2023, the Cincinnati ToolBank had a ribbon cutting to show off their brand new second-floor Training Center, community space, offices, co-working space, meeting rooms, and kitchen. The Training Center will be a collaborative educational center bridging a critical gap in the area of workforce development for youth nearing graduation. By capitalizing on existing partnerships, this project will meet critical regional needs while providing training and credentialing in high demand and stable jobs. Moreover, the space will also be a community educational center teaching tool use, repair and safety, and introducing tools, trades, and disaster preparedness to organizations and residents.
The project included an estimated of over $400K worth of in-kind donations and labor from local construction companies and trade companies, 2500 hours of donated labor, 150 gallons of paint that were donated from The Home Depot, and 10,500 square feet of metal studs and drywall donated from ClarkDietrich and Certainteed.
Houston ToolBank Update:
2024 marks the 10th anniversary of our Houston ToolBank. The Houston ToolBank’s first-ever tool order went out in October 2014. Over the last 10 years, they’ve shared more than 470,000 tools across 800+ nonprofit partners saving their network $13.6M in retail tool expenses. In January, Marly and her team received a sizeable donation of $10,000 from Frost Bank to celebrate their anniversary. Houton ToolBank Board Vice President, Erika Jones, presented the check at their board meeting. Frost Bank was an early supporter of our Tool Training Program development, and their ongoing support will help to transition from the pilot program to a permanent offering.
Congratulations on 10 years of service to the Houston community!
Phoenix ToolBank Update:
The Phoenix ToolBank kicked off 2024 with a volunteer bang welcoming two amazing groups into their warehouse to help them prepare for the year. Phoenix hosted volunteers from STANLEY to give their DEWALT string trimmers a much-needed reboot. They cleaned, restrung, and fixed over 45 string trimmers to get them ready for spring clean-ups. Then the ToolBank team welcomed volunteers from the Elks National Foundation – scholarship recipients from all over the US. These students cleaned, sanded new giant jenga pieces, and cleaned some more to help to get inventory ready to make their 2024 debut. The Phoenix ToolBank is off and running with orders so stay tuned to hear lots of amazing stories from their members!
Richmond ToolBank
Our Richmond ToolBank has been making an impact in a big way during the last quarter of 2023. Here are some highlights of their impact.
They’ve been doing a ton of hard work and here’s what they’ve accomplished from August to December 2023:
- 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝟴𝟱 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝘀: Tools For Change equipped 85 partners, enabling 6,983 volunteers to complete 543 projects. Richmond welcomed 33 new member agencies, saving $361,077.80 collectively during Q3 – Q4.
- C𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝟮𝟯𝟵 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗙𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗣𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲𝘀: Building Change hosted 628 volunteers and built 165 picnic tables, 13 raised garden beds, 44 park benches, and 17 Adirondack chairs.
- The Richmond ToolBank exceeded their 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹! The fundraising goal for 2023 was $15,000 and they raised over $18,500! From August to December, the ToolBank raised $7,983.77 from individuals and earned $500 from Starr Hill from the Cheers for Charity event that they hosted during September.
The Richmond ToolBank and its member agencies are creating a more vibrant and welcoming Richmond. They enjoy celebrating this journey because their team couldn’t do what they do without their inspiring community of volunteers, partners, donors, and sponsors. We all look forward to seeing what your team accomplishes in 2024!
Windy City ToolBank
WE’RE HIRING! If you know anyone in or around the Chicago area, please pass this information along.
ToolBank Disaster Services (TDS) Midwest Territory Manager and Warehouse Manager ToolBank is seeking an energetic and professional candidate to join our team as TDS Midwest Territory Manager to lead our operational initiatives within the prescribed territory. This job is stationed out of our Windy City ToolBank in Chicago, IL.
ToolBank Midwest Territory Manager must have excellent communication skills with the ability to speak to organizational leaders with confidence and service knowledge. They must possess a passion for the ToolBank mission and the organizations we serve. Team members must react to change with urgency and efficiency. The ideal candidate will bring personal initiative, strategic thinking, and a natural ability to develop relationships through clear communication and personal warmth with various constituencies.
