Our Team

REA FENGER, Co-Chair

A local to Victoria, Rea is a community organizer, a seasonal treeplanter, and an independent contractor with a background in home renovations. Living a portion of each year in northern BC for the past decade, Rea is attuned to DIY skill-sets and hands-on knowledge. Growing up in a family of carpenters and artists gave her ongoing access to a full woodshop, and more importantly the confidence to ‘mess around’ with hand and power tools in a safe and empowered manner. Rea’s goal is to encourage and bring this hands-on confidence to the community through the Victoria Tool Library.

Rea has over ten years experience working around urban food sustainability, bike accessibility, and theatre production. Rea was the volunteer coordinator and a bike mechanic at The Flat Bike Collective in Montreal for over five years. She helped create mechanic workshops for and by women, queers, and trans people with employment opportunities to counter the male dominance in the bike industry. She currently hosts a women, queers, and trans bike mechanic series in Victoria. These experiences have inspired her to create spaces that dismantle financial and social barriers to people gaining technical knowledge. It is this passion that drives her to help the Victoria Tool Library flourish. Rea holds a BA in Environmental Ethics and Anthropology from McGill University, an intensive Forestry certificate from the College of the Rockies – Mt. Currie Campus, and is a trained facilitator in conflict-based resolution from the Sexual Assault Centre of McGill University. Rea is also an active wrestler and coordinator with the art performance group The West Coast League of Lady Wrestlers.

Originally from Ottawa, Craig is a carpenter with experience ranging from home renovations, new construction, and fine woodworking. He believes in supporting community access to tools and sharing the knowledge of how to use them. When he isn’t at the tool library you can find him on a river or exploring the beautiful back country of the Island.

Al is a civil engineer and lifelong tinkerer and toolaholic.  At any given time he is likely to have approximately 37 different projects on the go, some of which may even one day be completed.  Most of those require at least one tool that he doesn’t own, which makes the Tool Library a natural fit for him.  Some of his ongoing projects include outfitting the perfect motorcycle, raising his 1908 house, and solving world hunger with aquaponics.  His partners in these endeavours are his wife Laura and his dog Gromette.

Besides the obvious self-serving benefits of an affiliation with the Tool Library, Al is also a big believer in the power of community and the role of non-profits to improve our society through the sharing of knowledge and the development of skills for everyone.

Sarah W is a community leader with more than fifteen years of experience developing and implementing sustainability policies and programs in the public and non-profit sectors. In her day job Sarah works at the City of Victoria managing multi-million dollar investments in transportation to support transit, cycling and walking. She spent five years on the Victoria Foundation community granting council and has helped numerous non-profit organizations over the past decade develop and deliver programs which contribute to community resiliency.

Sarah loves sharing: she has been a volunteer with the UVic SPOKES Program since 2003 and served with Modo – Victoria’s only local car share organization – for more than a decade. Sarah is also a director with Theatre SKAM, an innovative theatre company which focuses on experiential and place-based performances. Sarah is known for delivering on ambitious objectives, developing effective community partnerships, and creating legacies which support a vibrant, healthy and green community.

BRADY MACCARL, Member at Large

Brady is from the Okanagan and originally came to Victoria in the mid-2000s to study at the University of Victoria. Upon graduating, he spent a number of years working overseas and throughout Canada in various positions related to the management of water. In 2017, he moved back to Victoria to begin a job as a water policy advisor with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. Brady values giving back to the community and minimizing humanity’s ecological footprint. The Tool Library is a perfect avenue to fulfill these goals, and also allows Brady to entertain his interest in woodworking. Outside of the Tool Library, Brady spends his time running, biking, hunting traveling and exploring the outdoors.

Prior to moving to Victoria in 2016, Merlin spent many years working for the Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans in Halifax as a technician researching deep-sea ecosystems. Most recently while working in Nanaimo, their main focus was setting up and testing deep-sea camera/video survey gear to study the sea floor. Merlin spent 3 years as a volunteer bike mechanic at Bike Again!, a community bike workshop space in Halifax. At Bike Again! they worked with folks to fix their own bikes and with the community to build a safer and accepting space to share info and resources on all things bicycle-related. Merlin is a biology nerd, their current focus being mycology and the endless fascinating benefits of mushroom/fungi. On any given day you could find Merlin in their green house or in their home lab cultivating mushroom specimens. If not working on mushrooms, Merlin also spends their time fixing up a classic 1981 Chevette and a 1990 Ford Ranger.

Derek grew up with very little exposure to tools or how to use them, having been raised by a father who grew up with servants in Karachi. But what his father didn’t have in knowledge in tools he made up for in humility. He taught Derek that it’s OK to learn from others and ask for help. Here and there Derek learned from others how to use tools. Books and the internet (when it became a resource) became helpful resources.  Eventually, Derek became part of an intentional community called Madonna House. He spent almost eight years there working in agriculture, animal husbandry, carpentry, and mechanics.  Derek has experience developing and working in the co-operative/shared economy. – from food co-ops and governance, to communal living and serving the poor with food, clothing and a listening ear. He believes that sharing can save the world. Derek lives in Vic West with his wife Joanne and works as a strata manager.

TONY NIELSEN, Treasurer

Tony isn’t really that handy with tools, but he hopes to one day be. Tony’s passion at the Tool Library comes from his interest in community, learning and creating products and services that “wow” people.Tony wears and has worn many hats in the business world, some of the them included a UVIC Accounting TA and also a Finance Assistant within a local company. Tony saw the opportunity of Treasurer as a way to help out on the Financial side while providing ideas and action within other realms such as technology, marketing, entrepreneurship and team collaboration.

Originally from the Fraser Valley, Sabrina moved to Victoria to study at the University of Victoria. She finished her degree in Sociology with a Minor in Business from UVic last year. Sabrina took Sociology because she is passionate about sustainability, accessibility and community building. After completing a co-op at the Ministry of Citizens’ Services as an Outreach and Communications Coordinator, she wanted to gain more skills in writing for the web and digital marketing. She currently back in school, studying Digital Communications at Camosun College. The Tool Library is a great opportunity for her to contribute to the circular economy and to continue to build her skillset in marketing and communications. She also hopes to learn how to use different tools and get to know the community.

Stephanie Ferguson, President

Page DeWolfe, Vice President

Laura Hébert, President

Jay Cummins, Treasurer

Edie Irons, Member at Large

Brett Higson, Member at Large