What’s a Repair Café?

Got a toaster that won’t toast? Jeans with a torn seam? Chair with a loose leg? Toss it? No Way! Five Cities Repair Café looks forward to resuming its quarterly free events that support reuse, repair, and waste prevention by fixing stuff and saving repairable items from the landfill.

The idea of a community wide event where volunteers fix their neighbors broken items for free and keep them out of the landfill was born 12 years ago in Amsterdam when a young woman, Martine Postma, was troubled by the amount of trash that was filling landfills. Instead of throwing broken items away, she started a movement in the lobby of her local cinema where handy neighbors fixed broken items at regularly scheduled events.

One of our Central Coast residents embraced the Repair Café philosophy and in 2019 Five Cities Repair Café was born.  It took only a few months to gather intrepid volunteer fixers who signed on to repair small appliances, lamps, cameras, computers, jewelry, clothing, bikes, toys, and sharpened tools.

Repair Cafés aren’t “drop off” events. Neighbors spend time with a repairer who invariably teaches them something about the item they brought in. Then it’s likely they’ll be inspired to look at broken stuff around home with a new perspective.

Our all-volunteer run Five Cities Repair Café links up neighbors helping neighbors to strengthen bonds of friendship and civic engagement and promote sustainable living. Here’s a link to give you an idea of how much fun we have while we’re keeping stuff out of the landfill: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ntajwAFCTMZ5i38H7

We invite you to join our team that provides the organization, hospitality, refreshments, and outreach to our neighbors. Our events are free, but donations are welcome to sustain our shoestring operation! Learn more at Five Cities Repair Café.

Linda Busek