Today I played hooky from my day job and decided to take a mental health day. As always, John must have a drone over my house because I got a call: “You working today?” So I ended up at Koulas mowing while he and Mick cleared a mass of invasives around the large rock. Apparently, this is what my mental health days look like! I’m also staining my deck in the next few days, so I popped over to the community tool shed to see what was there for painting. It got me thinking that plenty of people probably don’t know we have a community tool shed, even though it has been helping volunteers get things done for well over 10 years.
Over the past 20 years, COSS has worked on 22 town sites, helped with 90 Scout projects, and supported an untold number of Scout service projects and scores of volunteer projects with our local nonprofits. Along the way, we learned that willing hands need good tools. People coming out to volunteer don’t always know what to bring, and those bringing their own understandably want them back in one piece. With some work parties reaching 30 people, we started collecting tools so everyone could show up and get to work.
That collection needed a home, so I worked with the town and got permission to put a tool shed at Sunny Meadow for Scouts, volunteer groups, and people working on nonprofit sites. The shed needed some love, and two different Eagle Scout projects rebuilt the entire inside. What grew from that was a shared resource that helped make years of projects possible. A group didn’t need to go buy 10 shovels or figure out where to find three wheelbarrows. They could just ask.
In 2025, the rules changed about where the tools could be used and whom we could support, and we were later told the shed needed to leave Sunny Meadow. Finding a new home for something so many volunteers depended on was a challenge, but the community came through. I ran into the Chinese Bible Church group at a town event and told them what was happening. They’ve helped on many projects around town, sometimes bringing crews of up to 30 people, and they offered us a place for the shed at the church. They wanted it to help their volunteers and other groups working to make our community and surrounding communities a little better.
That move gave the community tool shed a new home and room to keep doing what it has done for well over a decade. We can support more people without the restrictions we had before, and the tools are getting plenty of use. With four possible Eagle Scout projects at Koulas, there could be some busy days ahead! Scouts from Chelmsford and surrounding towns regularly email asking, “Can we borrow three wheelbarrows, 10 rakes, 10 shovels, and a few rock bars?” The answer is always yes. Supporting Scouts and 501(c)(3) organizations in Chelmsford and surrounding towns is part of the COSS charter, and putting tools in their hands is one practical way we do it.
The community helps keep it stocked, too. I get calls from people who are moving and have tools they would rather donate than sell for 50 cents at a yard sale. If we can use them, we pick them up. From hand tools to riding mowers, we find homes for them all. Those donations keep working long after they leave someone’s garage, helping the next Scout project, cleanup, or volunteer crew get the job done.
So yes, we have a community tool shed. It’s here, it’s being used, and its future is bright. If you’re planning a volunteer day or a cleanup, or just helping the senior or veteran down the street, drop me a line. We have tools in the shed and more at other locations. We’ll help, and we might even be able to deliver them and lend a hand. That’s how this started well over 10 years ago, and that’s how we’ll keep it going. It’s a community, and that’s the way we do it here in Chelmsford.