We had the biggest turnout this month since we started the Repair Cafe last summer! We got donations, fixed a bunch of stuff, and pointed some people to other organizations like Community Tech Time (flier), Recompute, the Illinois Tech Reuse Network, and Fiber Night. We’re considering expanding to be more than just once a month, but we need your help to make that a reality (more on that at the end).
We got several donations of tools and materials from our most wanted list. Some people also donated cash. Thank you all! This is exactly what makes sure we are sustainable. It’s hard to fix things without things like glue.
We had a lot of items get repaired, and for the first time, we didn’t have anything that couldn’t be repaired (though some things needed parts and thus the owners will be back next month). Pictured below is a battery pack from a Toyota Prius, a strainer, a couple lamps, an end table, a drill that was estimated to be from the 1930s, and some sewing repairs including fabricating a pocket, reversing a set of buttons. We also had a coffee grinder which didn’t quire make it into frame and a table that attaches to a walker which is just barely visible in the background of one of the photos.
The most exciting repair was probably a Toyota product: the battery pack from a Prius. We found a cart to get it into the space, got it fixed, and sent the person on their way. In this case the Prius owner mainly led the repair and the mentor was mainly a buddy check and somewhat of a student themselves.
Another person came in to have some things get fixed and offered to help anyone who had a sewing project. They hung out in the lounge working on their own thing and sure enough, we had someone come in later who wanted some buttons sewn onto
These are perfect illustrations of how the Repair Cafe works. There are not two distinct groups: people who help others, and people who receive help. Many people, perhaps even most, fall into both categories. We provide the space, tools, and environment to make repairs possible and the people who shows up are the real heroes of night.
On a final note, we have an announcement. We’d like to have a Repair Cafe more than once a month, but in order to do so, we need your help. We need to make sure we have enough mentors to help guide people. Our Repair Cafe is truly a bazaar. We never know how many people will show up with things to fix, what they’ll be, who we’ll have to fix them, or what skills our mentors will have. The reason we operate this way is two-fold:
- We don’t want to make people sign up and then feel like they’re obligated to come even if something comes up
- Coordinating and tracking who will be there takes time an effort, and there’s not really a huge benefit
If you are a potential mentor, tell us that you’d be willing to come help out for a couple hours. If you’re an existing mentor, let us know you’d be willing to come to more than one event per month. If you’d like to be a mentor but don’t feel like you have the skills, come to an event and shadow someone. If you are not now, nor do you want to be, a mentor, the biggest way you can help is to spread the word. That’ll help us grow overall, and many of our mentors are there because they found out about the Repair Cafe through the grapevine.
How do you reach out to tell us you’re down to help? The Makerspace is on Mastodon (@makerspace_urbana@tech.lgbt), Bluesky (@makerspace-urbana.bsky.social), Facebook, there are regular threads on the Repair Cafe on Nextdoor, or you can reach the Repair Cafe directly via email RepairCafe @ MakerspaceUrbana.org. We’re not asking anyone to sign up for specific timeslots or commit to anything, and we normally don’t even ask people to tell us they’re interested in helping, but when it comes to deciding if we are able to expand, it’s good to have some idea of our community’s general capacity.
Thanks for reading. Hope to see you next month.
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