After a series of break-ins at its Twin Oaks location this month, the DC Tool Library is fundraising online to replace about $11,000 worth of stolen tools and to improve the location’s security.

The DC Tool Library is a volunteer group run by Green Neighbors DC for the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation. Nearly a thousand D.C. area residents have signed up for access to the library’s mostly donated inventory of equipment for construction, gardening, camping, and cooking. Some of the many tools include drills, saws, sanders, hoes, shovels, solar ovens, and beekeeping equipment. They’re free to borrow not only for D.C. residents, but also to those in neighboring Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties as well as Arlington and Alexandria. Residents can borrow tools for up to a week.

The fundraiser has a target goal of $15,000, the estimated cost to replace the equipment and to update security features. As of press time, the community has donated $4,051 and counting.

Abigail Salvatore says she and other library volunteers have been “really gratified by the response.”

“Everyone we share it with is incredibly willing to help,” she says. “This is the sort of thing that makes a place like D.C. feel like a small community, where a neighborhood can really come together.”

The library is also planning a tool drive later this spring. In the meantime, the Twin Oaks location will be closed for at least a month due to the break-ins. Salvatore says they’ll probably open in the spring, and residents will at least have access to gardening tools. But residents may have limited access to some of the library’s more popular tools, like drills and table saws.

The library is in the process of opening another location in Lederer Gardens in Ward 7. Salvatore says they’re looking to expand to more spaces and are discussing opening a mobile tool library – plans that seem more urgent now due to the break-ins.

Salvatore says they’re not likely to recover the stolen equipment. There was some hope when a neighbor shared security footage with volunteers and the police. The footage showed where the stolen tools were taken, but they disappeared from that location shortly after.

The Department of Parks and Recreation already committed money before the break-ins to help with security improvements to the building. Salvatore says the community can help by donating money or tools. The library is also welcoming more volunteers – Salvatore says they currently have a small team of about a dozen people – and it would help if people could spread the word about their work.

“We’re only able to exist by virtue of the fact that we have a great community that supports us,” she says.