The University Heights Tool Library is doing its part to turn the University District into a winter wonderland. The organization is sponsoring an initiative called Light the Heights, and is setting out to decorate and illuminate several dormant shop display windows along Main Street. The project is said to be a low-cost high-impact endeavor that will help to "improve neighborhood perception and build relationships between various community stakeholders."
In order to see the task to completion, The Tool Library is asking that community members donate any unwanted holiday lights and decorations, so as to defray the costs. This is also a "green" way to decorate for the holidays. The group is looking for additional volunteers that can help to hang decorations and lights in the windows. This is the first year that The Tool Library has undertaken this initiative, and the hope is to make this an annual project that will grow bigger and bolder as the years pass.
Learn more about The Tool Library and Light The Heights on Facebook.
The Tool Library
5 W. Northrup Place
Buffalo, New York 14214
Phone (716) 510-1745
Email uhtl@ourheights.org
Website www.thetoollibrary.org
If I were able to move back to Buffalo right now, this is the first grassroots I'd attempt to involve myself with. I've been watching from afar, and tracking their growth over the past year. They're doing it right-- starting on a smaller scale, neighborhood by neighborhood, acting as a patient, smart model for others around the city to emulate. The impact of their work is evident to me whenever I'm able to take a drive through the heights (which unfortunately is only every couple of months). I'm wondering now what they'll drum up after the holiday season is over, but I'm excited to drive through in a couple of weeks. What a great example of the difference a few inspired individuals are able to make within a community if they put their minds together and are willing to make personal sacrifices for the benefit of the greater good.