If you have some household items on your shelf that need some fixing and you’re not quite ready to give up on them yet, you’re in luck — bring them out to the Repair Café on Oct. 26 and see if a local handy expert can help.
The Repair Café is like a one-day pop-up repair clinic that brings together local handypersons, versed in an array of helpful skills, to take a crack at fixing items brought to them from people in the community.
Each expert is a local volunteer, and they will provide whatever repairs they can right on the spot, free of charge, and even walk the item’s owner through what they’re doing.
People can bring in all kinds of items, so long as they can carry them — clothing or shoes in need of mending, small furniture or wood items needing attention, small appliances or electronics that aren’t working, and so on.
Moose Jaw’s Repair Café is being hosted at the Wandering Market and organized through the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council, in partnership with Affinity Credit Union.
“It's a very relaxed atmosphere. You stay with your item the whole time that it's being fixed and you learn about how it's being fixed,” said Naomi Mihilewicz, communications coordinator with the SWRC. “The whole idea is to watch the repair and participate in it, if you can, and really understand the process of how one fixes things.”
Repair Cafés aren’t new, although they are finally making their way to Saskatchewan. Saskatoon hosted it’s first event last year with great success, so the SWRC thought they should work on bringing the idea to more communities.
If it goes well, Mihilewicz hopes to see Moose Jaw able to make Repair Cafés a more regular event.
“They've now become sort of an international phenomenon and where they take off in a community, they will often be held on a regular basis,” said Mihilewicz. “Once people sort of get a taste for it, it's pretty addictive.”
The SWRC planned the event during Waste Reduction Week, which runs from Oct. 20-26 across Canada, because it felt like a fitting time to talk about fixing things rather than tossing them out.
“The theme for the Saturday of Waste Reduction Week is promoting swapping, sharing, and repairing,” said Mihilewicz. “We thought it would just be a great way to celebrate, and do some actual waste reduction and actually keep things out of the landfill.”
All the repair services during the Repair Café will be free of charge, to keep it accessible for everyone, with a place to give donations for the help offered.
Mihilewicz hopes to see plenty of people out to support the stand against throwaway culture. She also welcomes any volunteers who wish to offer their repair services for the day, and asks they contact her at [email protected] to get involved.
The Repair Café will be set up at the Wandering Market on 461 Athabasca Street E. from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.
