Pink and blue-handled tools. Please click for larger image

Whenever a volunteer group (and sometimes even licensed contractors) come to CrossRoads, we end up supplying tools to finish the job. At the end of the day or at the end of the weekend, everything can get mixed together.

To make sure our tools are easy to identify from the ones they brought with them, we have a special trick – we paint them pink. Not many people are willing to claim a pair of pink vise grips or a pink handled garden rake, so we generally get all of ours back. Also, if we see something of theirs we like, we just put some pink paint on it and claim it as ours. OK, just kidding.

It also works well for those of us who live on site and have our own tools we don’t want mixed in with the “work” tools. My tools are tagged in blue, and the facilities manager’s are tagged green. The other day I was in the shop and saw a garden hoe much like one I’d purchased a few years before. Closer inspection revealed it to have (faded) blue paint, so I took it home and repainted it. I don’t know how long it had been missing, but at least I knew for sure it was mine!

Many thanks to guest contributor:

Reuben Todd, Director
CrossRoads Camp and Conference Center