PORTLAND, Ore. -- If you’ve got a home improvement project in Northeast Portland there’s a new place you may want to check out.

The Northeast Portland Tool Library starts lending tools to neighbors on Saturday.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., neighbors can head to the Redeemer Lutheran Church at 5431 NE 20th Avenue for home and gardening tools that can be checked out on a weekly basis.

Neighbors need to show proof they live in Northeast Portland between Williams and 82nd Avenues to the west and east and Burnside Street and the Columbia River to the south and north.

For the first few months reservations and returns must be done in person, but phone and online reservation will be available soon, officials said.

The library is counting on help from neighbors and businesses to soon expand, its tool collection and hours. They’ll also offer community education classes on home maintenance, remodeling, and gardening.

"It's amazing what happens when one or two people in a neighborhood that's seen better days fix up their houses," lead coordinator Eric Fair-Layman said. "Soon other owners and landlords are fixing up their properties, new businesses move in, and over time the feel of a street and even a whole neighborhood can change. It shows people care about where they live.”

The Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods is the main sponsor the library and several Northeast neighborhood associations pledged grants, tool donations, or marketing to neighbors. Parr Lumber donated supplies at cost.

You can drop off tools at Garden Fever (3433 NE 24th @ Fremont), Buffalo Gardens at 3033 NE Alberta @ 31st & at Hankins Tru Value Hardware at 3942 NE MLK @ Shaver during business hours. Large donations can be given to Tom Thompson at (503)-539-1756.