The most common question we get is “What can I bring in to the Repair Cafe”. While the answer is “anything you can carry”, it’s helpful to see concrete examples, which is why we blog about what came in each month. Other common questions are “Can you really repair things nowadays?” Yes, the vast majority of them. And when are you open/where are you located? Every third Thursday 7-9PM at Makerspace Urbana see the event page for more details.
We had another 11 items come in last month, which brings us up to 123 items this year! Of those, 85% of them were repaired. That’s a lot of things that people didn’t have to spend money to replace, a bunch of stuff that wasn’t thrown in the trash, and a lot of education about the fact that things CAN still be repaired along with how to do it.
We also had some things come in that we forget to snap pictures of, such as another microwave (fixed, no parts needed), a T-shirt, a bicycle headlight, and a toaster. We also did some data recovery for someone, which isn’t exactly a repair, but it’s still saving things and helping out a member of our community.
November 15th is America Recycles Day and the Urbana Parks District invited us back to their celebration on Saturday. Our volunteers will lug a bunch of our tools, materials, signs and fliers up to the Anita Purves Nature Center so we can tell people that we have a local Repair Cafe, and help people fix anything that they bring in.
Another question that comes up from time to time is how people can help keep the Repair Cafe alive. There are numerous ways which people can help and some of the most important ones don’t require money, or repair skills.
- Be a social media champion. We need someone who is willing to post event reminders on Mastodon, Facebook, Reddit, Nextdoor, Instagram, TikTok, X, and all the others. If you are on even one of these platforms, please reach out so we can coordinate. All of our existing volunteers want to focus on fixin’ stuff, not social media.
- Tell people about us. Your church group, your football team, or book club about our existence. Most people in CU don’t know we exist. This is first on the list for a reason. Raising awareness is how we get connected with people who are willing to be mentors and people who want to fix something around the house that is broken.
- Donate tools, materials, or money. We don’t charge money for repairs. Volunteers who put in hours of their time every month don’t get paid. But the space we use still has to pay rent, tools wear out, and materials get used for repairs. We’d rather get the tools and materials directly, but we understand that cash is more convenient. The list of tools/materials we need most is on our event page.
- Be a mentor. Come in and help other people learn how to fix things.
- Be a shadow. Don’t have the skills to teach others yet? Come watch a mentor and see how its done.
- Be a repairer. Bring in something that’s broken and learn how to fix it. No experience necessary. That’s why we’re here.
Be the change you want to see in the world. Join us.
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