Houston Toolbank
County
Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, FortBend, Galveston, Harris-East, Harris-North, Harris-South, Harris-West, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Walker, Waller, Wharton.
Services offered
Cleaning Kits, Donations Management, In-Kind Donations/Bulk, Tools and Equipment.
Active in Disaster Phase
- Preparedness
- Relief / Response
- Recovery – Long Term
- Recovery – Short Term
Time to Mobilize
48+ hours
Mobilization Notes
To come
1215 Gazin St..
Houston, TX77020
1215 Gazin St..
Houston, TX77020
Mission
The Houston Community ToolBank serves community-based organizations by providing tools, equipment, and expertise to empower their most ambitious goals.
| Houston Community ToolBank is a nonprofit tool lending program that empowers fellow nonprofits to tackle community-based projects throughout our region. ToolBank borrowers are not only mainstream nonprofits, but also schools, faith-based organizations, neighborhood associations, and many others. Whether a project has ten volunteers or three hundred, access to ToolBank inventory relieves the burden of purchasing, storing, maintaining, and repairing the items essential to projects and events. When we put high-quality tools in the hands of volunteers, our members are able to do more for our community – whether through home repair, days of service, or charitable events. Since operations began, the Houston ToolBank has lent $26 million worth of tools that have equipped more than 284,000 volunteers to complete more than 23,400 projects. In a sector that consistently faces constraints of time, personnel, and budget, our inventory allows organizations to achieve their visions for a thriving community at a significantly reduced monetary cost. In the event of a disaster, the ToolBank's Neighborhood Tool Hubs (retrofitted shipping containers at four remote locations: Conroe, Texas City, City Centre, and Fort Bend) serve as remote pickup points for critical response resources. Three-to-five days before landfall, the Hubs are stocked with generators, muck & gut supplies, debris removal supplies, and PPE. When agencies responding to the disaster reach out to the ToolBank, they are referred to the Hub closest to their location for immediate access to resources. Utilizing the Hubs makes resources available across the Greater Houston Area, which minimizes the time it takes for members to access resources and ensure accessibility in the event the ToolBank, staff homes, and/or one or more of the Hubs are inaccessible. The disaster preparedness program is intended for member agencies whose disaster response plans include extensive community clean-up and recovery support. Before hurricane season, these agencies can place a pre-order with the ToolBank for the response tools they anticipate needing for their response activities. In the event of a major hurricane, ToolBank will pull the order 3-5 days before landfall so participating members can pre-stage the resources and be ready to respond with no delay. This program decreases the time for participating members to access needed resources and helps level the ToolBank workload by moving some orders before landfall. HTB works with participating members to ensure the pre-order quantities align with their disaster response plans and don't overstretch the ToolBank inventory. |
Since 2014, the ToolBank has supported more than 7,350 disaster recovery projects across 206 community-based organizations. Hurricane Harvey accounts for more than 4,900 projects supported by HTB since it hit in 2017.
Member /
2023
09/02/2023
- Texas VOAD
- Fort Bend LTRC
- Harris County LTRC
Executive Director
Community Programs & Development Director