As soon as they see a bright red Chevy pickup truck, they know it’s Mrs. Wendy Womack.
Last week, staff with Greensboro’s Office of Code Compliance greeted Womack as she drove up next to the two trailers parked behind the Greensboro Sportsplex on Sixteenth Street. As soon as she parked, they helped her unload a mower, a leaf blower, and a weed eater.
Womack is one of several hundred residents the city’s Neighborhood Toolbox has served since it launched in 2023. An idea taken from cities in Arizona, the program allows Greensboro residents to borrow a multitude of tools for free. From electric and gas-powered lawn mowers, trimmers, power washers, and drills, to basic shovels, hoes, rakes, and paint rollers, the toolbox offers a wide array of items to be used for any number of home projects.
To start, the city partnered with Lowe’s Home Improvement, which donated about $10,000 worth of equipment over two years. That’s how the program got most of its current tools.
The Toolbox lending center operates from March through October and opens two days per week: Thursdays for pick-ups and Tuesdays for drop-offs. This allows people to keep equipment over a weekend.
When the program began, it started as a way to bring code violations down, according to Jarod LaRue, a code compliance field supervisor for the city.
“If we’ve cited you for your grass being overgrown, and you don’t have the ability to mow it yourself or you don’t have the tools or you don’t have the ability to pay somebody else to do it,” LaRue said. “This gives you a means to an end to avoid that additional encumbrance of the bill from the city coming out and having to mow it.”
While code compliance involves a myriad of cases, including illegal dumping, minimum housing standards, abandoned vehicles, yard waste, and accumulated junk, the city also cites residents when their yards get too unruly. The standard rule is that all weeds or grass must be under 12 inches tall.
Sometimes, when yards exceed that limit, residents can be fined without knowing it was a problem.
“We have a large amount of frequent customers,” LaRue said. “Because this is their means of getting their own yard maintained.”
Womack, who first began borrowing tools last year, is one such user. She uses the equipment for her yard, she said.
“It’s a good program because I can’t afford to hire someone because I live on a fixed income,” she said.
About a fifth of the program’s users stem from code violations, LaRue said. Others just want to maintain their properties.
Joe Rufo first learned about the program on Facebook and borrowed a pin nailer. A panel had come loose on his kitchen island, and he needed a very specific tool to fix it.
“It’s very convenient,” Rufo said. “I’ll use it again if the need arises.”
The toolbox’s most popular requests include yard tools like mowers and blowers. The pressure washer is popular too, but there’s currently only one in rotation. The others have broken down.
That’s one of the biggest hurdles, LaRue said.
Lenders are required to show proof that they live within city limits. They also have to sign a waiver agreeing to use the tools carefully and return them in the same condition. But wear and tear happen over time. When tools break down, it can cost a few hundred dollars to repair them. But a new unit might just be $100 more.
“We’ve got a fair amount of equipment down now,” LaRue said. “So that means we’ve got to send it to an outside source to get it repaired, which is obviously going to cost us money. Or are we just going to replace the stuff?”
Since 2024, the program has received about $800 per year in city funding. That’s just enough to cover a few repairs or the replacement of some tools. That’s why LaRue has been asking local businesses and chains about donating more equipment. So far, nothing has panned out.
But he sees how valuable the program is and wants it to continue.
“People are super thankful,” he said. Oftentimes, he’ll see the same people come back week after week.
There’s a waiting list for popular items, and once it gets returned—on time about 70% of the time, according to LaRue—the next person gets a call. Then they pick it up, take it home, and bring it back.
Tasheba Daye also found out about the service on Facebook. At first, she thought it was a scam, but she filled out the form anyway. Soon, she received a call from the city saying she was next on the list.
“It’s nice,” said Daye, who was on site last week to return a lawn mower, leaf blower, and a gas jug.
“I don’t have these tools myself,” she said. “So it’s helpful for the community.”
Curtis Meeks, also a first-time user, just moved into a house and needed a mower. He liked being able to use the electric and gas tools to see which he preferred before eventually buying his own, he said.
Alvin Ballentine and Doris Kilcrease are program connoisseurs. They’ve frequented the toolbox since last year, when they visited to prepare the community garden at their Hall Towers senior apartments home.
They showed photos on their phones of tomatoes, peppers, flowers, okra, and squash from their harvest last year. Last week, they returned a weed eater, an edger, and a hoe.
“We’re coming back again,” Ballentine said, smiling as he got back in the car.
Greensboro was the first city in North Carolina to start such a program, LaRue said. Last year, Raleigh started its own version.
Last week, staff from the town of Garner visited Greensboro’s toolbox to see it in action. Leonardo Cuello, inspections staff for Garner, said he liked what he saw.
“We’re a lot smaller than Greensboro,” Cuello said. “Garner is a small town, but we have a lot of issues with people not mowing yards in the summer. And we have a lot of senior citizens that cannot do it either because they don’t have the equipment or they’re too old to do it.”
Having a program like this would solve some issues, Cuello said.
That’s been the most rewarding part for LaRue. As code enforcement staffers, they don’t like it when they have to cite people for violations, he said. So anything that makes life easier is a win.
Looking forward, LaRue hopes they get more funding, either from the city to fix or replace equipment, or that local businesses will chip in.
“This is really a labor of love,” he said. “And we want to make this last as long as possible, but it’s going to take community support.”