SE Community Kitchen Tool Library in the Works

Sunnyside is a neighborhood with friendly folks who feel comfortable lending a cup of sugar to their neighbors. But what if there was a place where people could borrow a food dehydrator or cider press?

Everyone deserves access to kitchen tools for food processing, preserving, and serving. With that in mind, community members are developing the Southeast Community Kitchen Tool Library, a place where anyone can borrow from an extensive collection of kitchen appliances and tools. We hope to offer pressure cookers, canners, knife sharpeners, bread machines, popcorn makers, grain mills—even place settings and ravioli crimpers! The goal is to provide a wide variety of handy items that are infrequently needed and often prohibitively expensive.

We also envision the Community Kitchen Tool Library being a place where neighborly connections can be fostered through a shared love of food. The library might even grow into a community-supported kitchen where we can share our culinary skills, nourish our bodies with healthy local food, and collaborate on difficult or intensive projects.

We are inspired by other successful lending libraries, such as the Southeast Portland Tool Library and North Portland Preserve and Serve Library, and believe that together we will make this a reality. By making expensive equipment freely available to all, and by sharing our collective skills and knowledge about food preservation and preparation, the future Southeast Community Kitchen Tool Library will make our community a more equitable and sustainable place to live.

This is a community-directed initiative and we need your input, creative energy, and kitchen items. Please contact Kim Hack for more information ([email protected] or 971-285-7372). Join us on November 7 for a planning meeting at 1221 SE 35th Avenue between Salmon and Main streets. Thank you!