By repairing old bikes to donate them to the needy, creating a local tool library, turning abandoned land into a skate park and other creative projects, these do-it-yourselfers are building the change they want to see in the world. To nominate the person, people or organization making a difference in your backyard-and whom you'd like to see featured in PM-email popmechhero@hearst.com.

1 Build a Local Tool Library Patrick Dunn and his buddies first discussed opening a tool library in October 2009. Like many good ideas, it caught on fast. Aided by a $20,000 city grant and free use of an inventory-tracking computer system, the West Seattle Tool Library opened in June 2010. Today, it's a 220-member DIY center offering workshops and loaning from a stock of more than 1300 manual and power implements. The runaway favorite is the wood chipper. "People use it to turn brush into compost and mulch for their yards," Dunn says. With demand steadily increasing, he hopes to expand the library's collection with high-tech gadgets, such as a 3D printer, and "fun demolition stuff, like jackhammers."



"People come in wanting to build a chicken coop or a bat house," Patrick Dunn of the West Seattle Tool Library says. "The projects are random."

2 Chop Vines, Save Trees



You can volunteer to fight invasive species at the 540 national wildlife refuges scattered around the country ( It started as a way for Thatcher Drew, a digital strategist who spends long hours in front of his computer, to get some exercise. The trees in a 12-mile stretch of parkland near his home in Bronxville, N.Y., were being choked to death by nonnative vines. So, one day in 1998, Drew waded into the thicket and started chopping. His friends and family joined the effort, and over time the group gained county government backing. Today, the Vinecutters hold biweekly winter training sessions, and up to 300 volunteers fan out on weekends to hack, chop and lop. With the vines in check, the trees, some more than 85 years old, are thriving. "It's a human-versus-nature drama," Drew says. "We can't let the vines take over the world."You can volunteer to fight invasive species at the 540 national wildlife refuges scattered around the country ( refugeassociation.org ).

3 Repair Old Bikes and Donate Them To The Needy "I've been fixing bicycles all my life. I taught my kids to fix bicycles–it was just DIY experience we shared. About five years ago I started doing this, repairing bikes for 6, 7 hours a day and giving them away. I just take abandoned bikes, or ones I find in dumpsters, then get them into shape and donate them to charities like the Salvation Army. One day I was testing out a bike and saw a guy apparently hurrying to get to work. I asked him whether having a bicycle would help. He said, 'Certainly.' So I gave it to him on the spot. Last year, I gave away 138 bicycles. There's always a need. Ever since the GM plant closed here, in 2008, unemployment has been about 10 percent. I'll give someone a bike, and they'll use it to go on a job interview and then come back and tell me about it. That's very rewarding."Tom Hillebrand, retired architectural designer, Janesville, Wis.

4 Turn an Abandoned House Into A Power House While Detroit's population decline has grabbed headlines, a spirit of innovative community activism has quietly taken hold in Motor City. Mitch Cope and Gina Reichert , for example, have outfitted a foreclosed property near their own home with wind turbines and solar panels that power a heating system and efficient appliances. The couple plans to turn the house into an arts center and apartment for visiting artists. "We want to keep it off the grid and get enough solar [energy] and wind turbines to power this house and the house next door," Cope says. The aptly named Power House is proof that self-reliance and technological ingenuity can beat the odds–and build community.

5 Start a DIY Science Lab



"We've created a community facility where members can do science without paying a ton," BioCurious co-founder Joseph Jackson says.



Kickstarter.com, BioCurious is part of a growing trend called biohacking, or garage biology. With $30,000 in donations via kickstarter.com, housemates Eri Gentry and Joseph Jackson founded BioCurious in their Mountain View, Calif., garage in 2009. They outfitted the space with equipment found on auction websites and collected from universities that were tossing used gear. From microscopes and beakers to an autoclave and a thermocycler, the lab took shape. Retired and amateur scientists flocked there, paying to use equipment for various experiments: pathology to find a relative's cause of death, creating deer repellent–you name it. Having outgrown its old digs, BioCurious moved in June to a nearby 2000-square-foot facility. Gentry and Jackson will rent space for as little as $100 a month, keeping science within reach."We've created a community facility where members can do science without paying a ton," BioCurious co-founder Joseph Jackson says. indiegogo.com and other funding platforms are designed to help individuals raise money for projects.

6 Form a Home-Repair Collective The first project that the Tampa, Fla., Home Improvement Team (HIT) tackled, 10 years ago, was a yard cleanup.



"It was like the Blair Witch Project woods–overgrown and scary," HIT founder Maria Garcia-Gutierrez says. But a dozen volunteers transformed it into a lovely garden in one day. "Now we always think, just one day. You can build a mountain with 12 people in a day." That belief and other guiding principles–pool your tools, feed your workers, sign an injury waiver–have helped HIT become one of the most successful neighborhood-improvement collectives in the nation, painting houses, installing decks, refinishing floors, paving walkways, repairing porches and more.

7 Turn Derelict Land Into A Skate Park The space beneath a city bridge can be a dumping ground and a magnet for crime and sketchy characters. The area under the Kingshighway Bridge in St. Louis was like that. But skateboarders Zac DelCortivo and Kyle Crandall saw an opportunity there. They held fundraisers–a concert, an art show and more–to pay for materials (mainly framing lumber and concrete), and started building a monster DIY skate park. "The main bowl is huge," Crandall says. "It took 30 yards of concrete to build that part alone." The entire park, started two years ago and now nearly complete, is the size of a football field. "We built an elaborate pyramid, spine ramps, a bunch of quarter pipes–it flows really nice," he says. Today, with skaters almost always present, the sketchy characters have moved on.

8 Build a Bus Shelter



Habitat for Humanity's ReStores ( "I don't have any real carpentry experience; I taught myself. Last winter I put up three shelters where I'd seen kids catching the school bus, standing out in the elements. I got some of the materials from houses that were being knocked down. They all have benches. I put up flyers inside the shelters. One says, 'You can be anything you want to be: governor, president...' Another says, 'You can be all of those things, but first brush your teeth and comb your hair.' The kids thank me all the time. This summer, I want them to use 'em as lemonade stands."– Omowali Lumumba, Carthage, TexasHabitat for Humanity's ReStores ( habitat.org/restores ) sell donated building supplies.

9 Stop Drunk Driving When it's closing time in Louisville, Ky., inebriated patrons who don't want to leave their cars at the curb call CityScoot. Mark Roberts (center, arms crossed) founded the company with a cousin in 2004. Since then, CityScoot has ferried home 70,000 customers. After getting a call, an employee rides a scooter to the client's car, folds it and slides it into the trunk, drives the client home and scoots back to HQ. Roberts just signed Captain Morgan as a sponsor, and the CityScoot model has been copied in other cities. "The ultimate goal for me was to start a business where I could make a difference," he says. "We want to be there for people."

10 Build and Give Away Computers After amassing parts via freecycle.org , Jordan Grant of Columbia, Mo., began building computers. It started as a hobby, but soon he had too many computers on his hands. So, about a year ago, Grant began giving them to people of limited means, at a rate of two or three a month. A systems developer for Carfax, Grant is an Eagle Scout, an Army National Guard veteran who spent a year in Iraq and a man of conviction. "Personal investment in your community makes it a better place," he says. "People ask why I give away computers. Well, that's it."

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