How Do I Get One of These in My Town?
It makes you feel good to get your own things repaired rather than buying something new.
— Repair Cafe customer
If you’ve ever had an item fixed at a community repair event, experienced the joy of having a broken but beloved item restored to use, or read or heard about the repair revolution in the media, you might be tempted to ask, “How do I get one of these in my town?”
The answer is right in front of you, close to where you live. First-time visitors often tell the event organizer, “This is so great!” “So cool!” “So fun!” Then they ask, “Could you bring your team and do this in my town?” The answer is, “Glad you like it! And sorry, but no.” Because one size doesn’t fit all. In the United States, each Repair Cafe can draw customers from up to a dozen different towns. In order to be embraced and supported, every Repair Cafe must be a grassroots effort, grown from within its own community, to meet its customers’ unique needs. As we say, “Repairs by experts who are also your neighbors.”
There is no one right way to start and manage a Repair Cafe, but this chapter will provide advice, tried-and-true “best practices,” and suggestions gathered from organizers and their volunteers from across the United States and in Toronto, Canada. You’ll learn how to attract volunteers and keep them coming back, as well as what kinds of tools and equipment they might need in order to offer a variety of repairs. You’ll learn what type of location is ideal and how to set it up so coaches and guests can work together safely. You’ll learn how to attract partners and sponsors to help promote your events and defray expenses.
If you’d like to start a community-based repair event, begin by visiting an existing cafe, clinic, or collective. To search for a location near you, check the organization’s website, Facebook page, or blog. Expect to devote a couple of hours to wandering from table to table to observe what types of items people bring to be repaired, and to witness the interaction between the public and all the volunteers — friendly greeters, traffic flow managers, and repair coaches. Better yet, bring something that needs to be fixed so you can experience the process firsthand, from check-in to check-out.
Finding Volunteers
Look for Curious, Busy, Friendly People
People who want to start cafes of their own always ask existing Repair Cafe organizers, “How do you find volunteers?” The brief answer is look for active, friendly, helpful people in your own community who already volunteer for any type of activity, or the handy folks others call when they need something repaired. Here are some hints for where to look for such people and how to connect with them.
People who volunteer to help others fix things tend to have been curious kids who took things apart for fun, often to the dismay of their parents. Others grew up in handy, frugal households where repairing things was a way of life. Many other volunteers learned on the job or are self-taught. They all like the idea, as Warwick, New York, repair coach Tom Bonita says, “of keeping useful things useful and out of landfills.” They like a challenge, enjoy learning new things, like sharing what they know, and feel a need to give back to their community.
Do you know the old adage, “Want something done? Look for a busy person”? It’s true. Employed or retired, repair people are often engaged in multiple activities. Many of our repair coaches also volunteer at the local food pantry, with the PTA, as EMTs or in the Ambulance Corps or Red Cross, and with many other advocacy, networking, political, business, and social organizations. Across the USA, volunteers come from every walk of life and bring every skill set imaginable, including Airbnb hosts, artists, attorneys, authors, bakers, beekeepers, business owners, carpenters, chemists, career counselors, contractors, craftspeople, dads, electricians, engineers, firemen, grandparents, graphic designers, ham radio operators, homemakers, lawyers, locksmiths, massage therapists, mechanics, media producers, military veterans, moms, museum curators, musicians, nurses, pastors, plumbers, police investigators, professional organizers, psychotherapists, real estate agents, salespeople, teachers, students, school principals, seamstresses, social workers, television producers, tool- and diemakers, town board members — anybody! — everybody! — YOU!
Technical skills are important, but good repair coaches have other qualities as well: they are outgoing and friendly, good at listening and communicating, and curious. You want people who won’t be discouraged if they can’t fix the problem that day with the limited time, tools, or supplies available.
Some people volunteer to fix things at more than one event in more than one town. Others only have time to give to one location. Don’t staff your events by poaching volunteers from another Repair Cafe, Fixit Clinic, or Fixers Collective. Organizers work hard to find and keep friendly, compatible, skilled coaches. Organizers and volunteers also work hard to promote their events in order to attract and keep a steady audience. Respect that.
As you are “staffing up” your Repair Cafe, consider the following tried-and-true tactics:
Talk It Up
Think of the search for volunteers as a passport to parts of your community you might not have known otherwise. Look for friendly folks with significant repair skills. Ask family, friends, neighbors, co-workers — anyone and everyone you know — to recommend handy men and women, especially those who have successfully fixed items for them. Professionals who have their own repair, carpentry, contractor, or sewing businesses often volunteer at repair events as a way to network and promote their services to a wider audience.
Offer to Speak
Tell the Repair Cafe story. Business, social, service, and civic clubs and organizations are often looking for speakers. Contact the organizers of these groups in your town and ask to speak or present a PowerPoint program about your repair event. Always end your talk by asking people to raise their hands if they’re interested in volunteering; then ask them to add their contact information to a signup sheet. (Be sure to bring pen and paper for this!) Leave behind your contact information with the organizer or the group’s secretary.
Get It in Print
Write a press release and calendar listing that include the who, what, when, where, how, and why of your repair event. State that you’re looking for volunteers, include your contact information, and submit the release to local newspapers and magazines; radio and TV stations; the city/county tourism office; the city, village, town, and county recycling/solid waste management team; the mayor, town supervisor, and city hall staff; houses of worship; and schools, colleges, and universities. Post your press release on social media. Follow up with each recipient by phone or in person to make sure that your press release was received, then ask when it will run.
Post flyers, announcing the search for volunteers, in a variety of locations that get lots of traffic: public bulletin boards in banks, post offices, grocery stores, coffee shops, pizzerias, libraries, real estate offices, gas stations, hair and nail salons, laundromats, fabric, yarn, craft and art supply stores, hardware stores, thrift and reuse stores, and other local businesses, and at bus stops and farmers’ markets. Email the flyer to everyone you know; ask them to share it with all their contacts and on social media.
ALL DECKED OUT IN BUTTONS
Eager to promote her Repair Cafe more widely in her Connecticut community, Elizabeth Huebner snagged a booth at the annual Willimantic Downtown Country Fair to introduce her neighbors to the concept. Knowing that the space would be too small for volunteers to store supplies and use tools to make actual repairs, she planned to use the booth to teach people how to sew on a button — a task many people no longer learn. Thinking that “it would be cool to have a project where people could actually use their new-found skill,” she decided to make a cloth banner onto which her students could spell out the words Repair Cafe in buttons.
The project’s first step was to solicit flat, white buttons. Two businesses and two senior centers agreed to act as collection points for community donations. Once the buttons were in hand, the fair booth became a “hive of activity.” Little ones were very interested in the button stash and in learning how to thread the needle, tie a knot, then sew on the button they’d chosen. People who had sewing skills were happy to sit and chat while sewing on a button or two or ten. Sometimes as many as fifteen people — grandmothers, dads, young adults, little kids — all gathered around, sewing. The letters weren’t completely finished at the fair, of course, so Elizabeth organized a Chat and Sew party, open to any and all. Finally, the project was complete, and after “the technical aspects of readability and hangability” were solved, the button banner welcomed people to the next Repair Cafe at Willimantic’s First Congregational Church. “About fifty people helped with sewing; many more, with advice, ideas, supplies, and moral support. This project brought together people of all ages and backgrounds who didn’t know each other before, all the while sewing buttons on a banner, of all things!”
A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words
I saw it advertised in our local paper, stopped by with a lamp that needed to be repaired, and stayed to volunteer ever since!
— Jen Picard, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Elizabeth recalls: I had only three coaches signed up two weeks before the scheduled launch of my county’s first Repair Cafe, to be held in Warwick, New York. I wanted at least ten fixers to cover the basic repair categories — digital devices, lamps, vacuums, clocks and other small electrical/mechanical items, clothing, textiles and stuffed toys, knives and scissors, jewelry, ceramics, wooden chairs, and small tables. Knowing that elected officials often promote nonprofit ventures that benefit the whole community, I called Mayor Newhard and asked if he’d make himself available for a photo shoot in front of our planned venue, a community center. “Like the newspaper photos of you holding a big pair of fake scissors pretending to cut a ribbon stretched across the door of a new store,” I suggested. Mr. Mayor agreed, told me to call the Chamber of Commerce (“They’ll arrange everything”), and suggested asking the three coaches to each hold an example of the type of item — lamp, laptop, wooden toy — they were going to fix.
The day of the photo shoot arrived. The director of the local Chamber of Commerce had arranged for photographers from two local newspapers to be there, and for the mayor, deputy mayor, town supervisor, chamber members, and other dignitaries to show up. The coaches held items to be fixed and I held a sign with the Hudson Valley Repair Cafe logo. After the photo ran in the papers, my phone rang off the hook with people offering to volunteer or calling to learn about what kinds of items might be fixed at the Repair Cafe.
If you plan a similar photo shoot, be sure to use the photos to promote future events and in any materials used to appeal for additional volunteers. Also, ask the city, town, and village clerk, the department of public works, and the county recycling department to post the photos on their websites with repair event dates, the location, and the organizer’s contact information.
At the Movies
Many movie theaters and drive-ins are happy to promote local businesses and seasonal community events. Contact the owners to ask if they’ll do the same for your all-volunteer, not-for-profit repair event. Last year, before Warwick’s summer Repair Cafe, one of the new volunteers, a retired chief financial officer, talked the operator of a drive-in movie theatre into handing a Repair Cafe flyer to the driver of every car that drove through the gate on Fourth of July weekend. That added up to fifteen hundred people over the three-day weekend. It was great advertising, to an audience that might not have been reached through more traditional means, for the cost of printing the flyers. You might also ask the owners of movie theaters located in high-traffic urban neighborhoods if they would show still photos or videos of Repair Cafe activities, with date and location details, on the big screen, along with other trailers, prior to the scheduled movie.
Finding the Right Location
Repair Cafes can be found in all sorts of venues, but the ideal setting is a rent-free space on a main street in a walkable neighborhood a short distance from public transportation. Look for public and commercial spaces associated with your partners or sponsors, as well as locations such as libraries, houses of worship, art centers, craft and farmers’ markets, church halls, community centers, holiday gift markets, co-working spaces, historic houses, makerspaces, museums, school gyms and cafeterias, fire department houses, senior centers, theaters, village and town halls, parking lots, and so on. No matter who organizes or sponsors the event, the people associated with the venue (librarians, faith community members, museum staff, etc.) should be educated about how this community outreach will benefit their group: it’s a way to bring people through the door who might otherwise never come, and the Repair Cafe organizers can offer a network of volunteers who can help get the word out.
Ease of access is important. If volunteers and customers must drive to the venue, there should be adequate low-cost or free parking within easy walking distance of the Repair Cafe. Keep in mind that people must carry items that need fixing in and out of the location, and coaches will need to transport tools, sewing machines, bike stands, and bulky boxes stuffed with supplies and equipment. The refreshment team must tote coffee and tea-making gear, as well as food and serveware. Look for a location that has a level entryway and wide double doors. Curbs, stairs, and elevators can be hard to negotiate for a person in a wheelchair or someone carrying a fragile floor lamp while holding a toddler by the hand.
Inside, the ideal space consists of one large, open room with lots of natural light, wheelchair accessible bathrooms, a water fountain, and a kitchen (so long as it, too, is free) — all on the same floor. The setup should allow for easy flow of people and objects. You’ll need enough space, next to multiple electrical outlets, to erect six to twelve tables, each six feet long and three feet wide, with chairs for coaches on one side and for visitors on the other. Arrange the tables in such a way that people carrying large or fragile items can walk around them without bumping into other folks. You’ll also need additional chairs to seat all the people waiting to be helped. If you haven’t got access to a kitchen, you can set up a table near an electrical outlet for brewing coffee and tea and serving snacks. Access to Wi-Fi allows coaches to look up manufacturers’ product information, find where to buy parts, and access how-to videos on YouTube and other sites.
Organizers should also be aware of the spatial and sensory variables that matter to repair coaches with autism and other NDs. In order to be comfortable and productive, they need to work in a space that is not close to another workspace and is not too bright or too loud. (Not right next to the folks repairing vacuum cleaners, for example.) And if you celebrate each repair with bells, horns, or cheers, you may need to suspend that practice around these volunteers. As much as organizers love to post pictures of their events, some neurodivergent repair coaches (and others) will opt out of publicity photos.
How to Organize Volunteers
I don’t repair anything.…I “greet patrons” and direct them to the appropriate tables. So, in a way I’m learning to “tinker” by deciding what expert may be able to fix what.
— Misha Harnick, New Paltz, New York
Once your Repair Cafe is up and running, you will likely find yourself with a small army of eager volunteers who come together regularly to bring broken items back to life. It’s a lot of activity, and someone needs to coordinate it. You can start by identifying the volunteer roles your Repair Cafe will need. This section is adapted from the handy master volunteer list put together by Repair Cafe Toronto, Canada. Consider the tasks that best suit your cafe’s needs, which might change over time.
Greeters
•Guide and assist visitors in finding their way around the cafe.
•Escort visitors to the correct repair area.
•Introduce visitors to the waiting list monitors.
•Provide directions to the washrooms, refreshments, and exits.
•Chat with waiting visitors.
Registration Team
•Welcome visitors and explain how the Repair Cafe process works.
•Describe the waiting list process.
•Inspect items for safety.
•Review waiver forms.
Waiting List (Monitors)
•Welcome and match each visitor with a repair coach based on their item.
•Invite each visitor to sit, and explain how the waiting list works.
•When able, provide visitors with an estimated wait time.
•Remind waiting visitors of the refreshment area.
•Monitor fixing activities to identify when a repair coach becomes available.
Repair Coach
A repair coach invites a visitor to choose one of three options:
•Repair coach does the repair, and the visitor watches.
•Repair coach and visitor conduct the repair together.
•Visitor does the repair, and the repair coach helps.
Categories of repair coaches include those who work with small appliances, furniture, computers, electronics, clothing, jewelry, book and paper repairs, garden tools, and bicycles.
Volunteer Coordinator
•Manage all volunteer communications.
•Recruit new volunteers.
•Maintain volunteer list.
•Manage and coordinate volunteers.
•Engage with volunteers and gather feedback.
Setup and Packup Crew
•Set up and pack up registration, refreshments, photo booth and lunch areas, signage, power cords, work mats, etc.
•Clean and reconfigure the space as it was upon arrival, including tables and chairs, whiteboards, floors.
Refreshment Captain
•Set up the refreshment area and the volunteer lunch area.
•Ensure all refreshment materials are arranged.
•Inform volunteers when lunch is served.
•Ensure the refreshment area remains tidy during the event.
•Clean up at the end of the event.
FIXED Photographer and Event Photographer
•Invite visitors to have their pictures taken with the FIXED sign (which indicates their items have been fixed).
•Inform visitors that pictures will be posted online.
•Set up and take down the photo booth area.
•Take photographs of cafe activities.
Waste Management Consultant
•Provide advice about proper disposal of nonrepairable items and hazardous materials.
•Promote improved waste management strategies.
Additional Volunteer Activities
•Collect event data and analyze results.
•Develop and maintain membership and subscription lists.
•Interview visitors to gather their perceptions and testimonials.
Marketing and Communication
•Create promotional materials, such as flyers, signage, and T-shirts.
•Maintain and develop website and social media accounts.
•Promote events through social media platforms.
•Talk to the media and community partners.
•Take photos and videos of the repair process and fixed items.
Organizing Committee
•Plan, organize, and carry out events and activities.
•Set objectives and develop short- and long-term strategies.
•Evaluate program outcomes.
•Review volunteer recruitment and retention efforts.
•Establish community partnerships.
•Maintain expense reporting and budgeting.
Choosing the Right Equipment
The Right Tools
Organizers can’t run a Repair Cafe without tools and other materials for making repairs on-site. Here are some suggestions for what you will need and who should provide it.
We recommend that repair organizers establish a relationship with their local hardware store owner. A hardware store that has been in business for a generation or more is part of the “soul” of your town or neighborhood. Big box stores have made them an endangered species, and we delight in sending Repair Cafe customers to the local store to purchase parts that our coaches have identified as necessary to complete the job. We also remind our Repair Cafe visitors that the people who work at the local stores, especially those who have been there for years, are a reliable source of advice, day in and day out. All this strengthens local resistance to our throwaway culture. Make sure that your local hardware store understands such benefits of community repair, and that what you are doing will help, not hurt, their business. The hardware store will likely be willing to display your flyer and talk up the Repair Cafe.
We tell first-time coaches to “bring a small selection of tools you find most useful.” We also say that if they need a tool they don’t have, they’ll likely find it somewhere among the tools the other coaches have brought. Tool sharing is part of the collaborative spirit among our fixers, and conscientiously returning borrowed tools builds bonds of mutual respect. A list of useful tools includes safety and magnifying glasses, multisocket power strips to provide protection against electrical power surges, a high-intensity or magnification light, a long extension cord (outlets are often far apart and used by many people), a sewing machine, thread, yarn, buttons, fabric for patches, and a sturdy, height-adjustable, floor-standing, bike repair workstand. In addition, many Repair Cafes stock and sell a limited supply of lamp and bike parts — ideally purchased from a neighborhood store at a discount. The customers pay what the Repair Cafe paid for them. At the Warwick, New York, Repair Cafe, FixIt Bob Berkowitz, who runs a handyman business, shops for and maintains the inventory of lamp supplies for use by all the small electrics coaches. Some of the parts are donated by customers who bring a socket or switch to complete their repair but learn, after talking to the coach, that they actually need another type, which is often available in our lamp supply box. Bob recommends that only one person be responsible for inventorying the parts after each event, so that he or she will know what to buy prior to the next event. See appendix 2 for Bob’s recommended list of lamp parts to keep handy, as well as more basic supplies that can be used by all the coaches.
Donations Gratefully Accepted
Repair Cafes are free, as are all repairs provided by coaches. No one is paid — not the organizer and not the volunteers, no matter what their role. Tipping the repair coaches is actively discouraged. Yet we do have expenses — for flyers, signs, and other promotional materials; office and repair supplies; insurance; and refreshments. There are different ways to cover these costs. A common practice is to place one large donation jar in a prominent spot near the entrance/exit and another on the beverage and snack table. Some Repair Cafes add a sign suggesting a five-dollar donation. Others leave the amount up to the grateful visitor. Either way, send the signal by “seeding” your donation jar with several greenbacks before you open the doors. All receipts for purchases made by volunteers are turned in to the organizer for reimbursement, that very day, from the donation jar. Many Repair Cafes gratefully accept donations of tools, repair materials, and snacks and baked goods in addition to cash. Some, especially those located in houses of worship, also encourage donations of nonperishable items for the local food pantry.
Signage
Post several signs (printed on both sides) along the street, in the nearest parking lots, and near the building entrance to identify your location. You’ll need a variety of signs to transform a generic space into a welcoming room, as well as to indicate repair stations for textiles, small electrics, jewelry, and so on. Sign templates with logos are included in the Repair Cafe manual, but cafes are encouraged to be creative and design their own logos. For example, Michele, organizer of the Repair Cafe held in Green Ossining, New York, hosted a lunch party where friends and soon-to-be coaches had fun pasting images cut from magazines onto the backs of plastic real-estate signs to create new signs.
Welcome people with posters printed with clever quotes, such as “worry never fixes anything” and “I couldn’t repair your brakes so I made your horn louder.” Many of the inspiring sentiments expressed throughout this book would be good for this purpose. Hang these around the room or display them on easels for a festive look.
Many cafes keep a “Fixed!” sign at the check-in/check-out table, and customers whose items were successfully repaired are invited to have a photo taken holding their item and the “Fixed!” sign to promote the cafe. Share these photos on social media, and include them with follow-up reports and press releases.
Satisfied customers always ask the date of the next event. Place a sign listing all event dates and locations for the current year on or near the entrance and exit tables. Encourage visitors to snap a photo of the sign with their phones or jot down the details.
Welcome Table
Whether you call it the welcome table, the check-in/check-out table, or the entrance table, it’s an important place. Here you’ll want to supply a box of name badges for all the volunteers. A reusable nametag is less wasteful than the peel-and-stick, self-adhesive type. This table can also stock notebooks or forms where attendees can register their thanks and comments, job tickets, house rules and liability disclaimer forms, a stock of pens, pencils, scissors, tape, push pins, and other office supplies, a basket or box to collect returned job tickets and other forms, and a donation jar.
Cafe Table
At minimum, most repair events provide free hot coffee, tea, milk, and sugar, with iced tea and/or lemonade in the summer. Many also offer fruit, baked goods, and other snacks to the public. Some organizers and volunteers solicit donations from their favorite sandwich shops, delis, pizzerias, and other food establishments. Other cafes benefit from donations of coffee, day-old bagels, and other baked goods from local stores. And some coaches like to bake cookies and other sweets as well as patch jeans or rewire lamps.
For the cafe table, you’ll need a coffee percolator, an electric teakettle or large thermos filled with steaming hot water, a tablecloth that can be wiped clean, napkins and plates — ideally eco-friendly (compostable or made with recycled materials)— reusable bowls, baskets, platters, tongs, and other serving utensils, and a garbage can for nonrecyclables. Some locations offer all the refreshments to both the public and the volunteers at no charge. Others place a jar on the table with a sign inviting donations. “Seed” the donation jar with several greenbacks before you open the doors.
Storage
Most coaches prefer to bring in and take home their own tools, equipment, and supplies for each event. However, all the communal supplies and signs need to be safely stored between repair events. Some host locations provide secure storage for items packed in lidded boxes and bins; others do not. Try to divide the items to be stored and the responsibility for maintaining stock levels among several people so no one person gets stuck with shopping, packing, storing, and toting everything.
Follow the Rules
There are only two rules for Repair Cafes: (1) repairs are free, and (2) it’s not a drop-off service. Beyond that, every community gets to organize their events in the ways that work best for them.
Safety First and “On Call”
Safety is always a priority. It’s mostly a matter of common sense and paying attention to what’s going on around you. Repair coaches tend to have both skills. Most Repair Cafes decline to work on large, noisy, smelly, gasoline or propane-powered engines and other mechanical devices. The noise is disruptive, the fumes are unpleasant, and the use of gasoline or propane indoors is a potential fire hazard. However, the Repair Cafe in New Paltz, New York, does offer welding repairs done outside, weather permitting, in a vacant parking lot by a welding contractor who has served residential, industrial, and commercial clients for over twenty-five years. He even drives his rig to five different Repair Cafes on both sides of the Hudson River.
Even if they don’t operate a repair business, most coaches know to check their tools and equipment to make sure that they are safe to use and to tape extension cords to the floor to prevent accidents. But the organizer should check too, as well as provide safety glasses and remind people to use them. If you’re going to offer bike repairs, always attach the bike to a repair workshop stand, designed for the purpose, even when the owner swears that he’ll hold it. Children of all ages, accompanied by adults, are always welcome at Repair Cafes. For their own protection, older kids seeking volunteer community service hours should always be paired with adult mentors. “Shadowing” an experienced coach before attempting to make repairs is a smart way for prospective volunteers of all ages to determine if the Repair Cafe is a good fit for their enthusiasm and skill level. Organizers should prepare themselves to be “on call,” ready to solve unanticipated problems and answer questions from volunteers and the public during the entire event, from setup to pack-up. Organizers will also need to be available to respond to inquiries from the press and municipal officials, as well as to jot down the wonderful stories told by both owners of and fixers of the quirky, antique, unique items brought in for repairs. That doesn’t usually leave time to make repairs or pick up pizza for the volunteers’ lunch.
Ours Is Not a Drop-Off Service
Greeters sometimes need to explain, especially to people who have never experienced a repair event, that ours is not a drop-off service. Rather, a Repair Cafe is a place where people will find tools and can fix their broken things with the help of skilled volunteer coaches. Even when guests aren’t ready or able to attempt the repair project hands-on, they are expected to watch the process and hopefully learn something useful.
Repair organizers report that people often do want to learn how to fix things, and volunteers are more than happy to teach them. One Repair Cafe coach has very arthritic hands. Some doubted that he would be effective, but his deficiency is his asset. Sometimes, this coach needs the owner to hold or turn an item so that he can work on it. Other times, when his hands won’t cooperate, he supervises the owners while giving them step-by-step instructions and the confidence to make their own repairs. “This often creates a deeper connection between the volunteer and the participant, which in turn creates a feeling of community and connection,” says Lauren Gross, a Repair Cafe coorganizer in Portland, Oregon.
Two Items per Person
In order to serve as many people as possible and shorten the wait time, many Repair Cafes limit the number of items that people may bring to be repaired. Most organizers allow two items per person, although some will accept more if the coaches aren’t busy. Lorraine, organizer of a Repair Cafe in Maplewood, New Jersey, has a policy that if multiple lamps needing lengthy repair are brought in by one person, the customer is directed to go to the end of the line after the first repair in order to give the next person in line a chance to be served. Some cafes use a take-a-number system — you arrive at the reception table, take a numbered ticket, and wait for your turn. Other cafes have a more elaborate traffic flow system. Jen Picard, who volunteers at the Repair Cafe held in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, describes their process: “Each person receives a number that matches their sheet, which tells us their name and basic information along with the item(s) that need to be repaired. The number is printed on a brightly colored piece of cardboard so that each person is taken in order. This way if the seamstresses or other volunteers are busy, each person is treated fairly and goes to the next available repairer.” Some locations, like Repair Cafe NC, in North Carolina’s Research Triangle, offer web-based workshop registration prior to the event. The Rodeo City Repair Cafe, in Ellensburg, Washington, also invites people to fill out an online repair reservation form in advance of their event. Organizer Don Shriner says, “The biggest benefit is since many parts have to be ordered, we can help folks locate and bring their replacement parts with them and avoid return visits.”
The Customer Isn’t Always Right
Repair Cafe customers don’t always follow the rules. Sometimes it’s because they don’t know the rules, and sometimes they just want things to go their way. Whatever the case, Repair Cafe volunteers can gently point out that in a Repair Cafe, the rules are there for a reason. The customer is not always right.
Some people bring in more than the number of items allowed or things that coaches feel are too complicated, dirty, or unsafe to repair. Many house rules state that coaches have the right to refuse to repair any object they don’t want to work on. One experienced sewing coach who runs her own business cautions new coaches not to take on intricate jobs like alterations, hemming clothing or curtains, or tailoring. These tasks require prep work — measuring, pinning, and ironing — before sewing. Unless the customer is prepared to take the item home to prep it before the next cafe, such jobs take a lot of time. That is frustrating to others waiting their turn for a simple, quick repair. Sometimes a coach who has a special area of expertise has a family emergency and isn’t available as advertised, and the visitor seeking that expertise is annoyed. Usually a gentle reminder that we’re all volunteers trying to serve as many people as possible, in the best way possible, with the resources at hand, is enough to defuse the situation.
Not Everything Needs to Be or Can Be Fixed — and That’s Okay
No repair needed — just needs new bulbs
— Note scribbled on Repair Cafe job ticket
Often, items brought in for repair aren’t really broken; the owner simply needs to be taught how to use it as designed or shown a clever work-around. New Paltz Repair Cafe jewelry coach Renee Lee Rosenberg reports that she and fellow coach Barbara Lane have begun to give visitors advice about where they can purchase supplies and how to repair their jewelry at home. One woman who fixed her necklace at home sent a photo of her fix to the jewelry team. “It looked better than how we would’ve fixed it. We were thrilled, and so was she.” Sometimes, despite the repair coach’s best efforts, an item can’t be fixed — there’s not enough time, the right tools or special parts aren’t available, or the design makes it impossible to remove the back. Sometimes the repair needs to be referred to the manufacturer or a repair professional. Most visitors appreciate the effort anyway, saying, “Well, now I know what’s really wrong with it. Thanks for trying.” Coaches, even those who don’t run their own fix-it or mending business, sometimes offer to take an item home with them to complete the repair. Organizers shouldn’t encourage that; you don’t want your coaches to burn out. But neither is it your job to talk them out of it. That said, many coaches have reported that the person they helped for free is now a regular, paying customer for their professional services.
Liability
People who want to start a Repair Cafe often ask how to prevent accidents and what to do if a customer’s beloved object is damaged by a repair coach or another customer. “What happens if one of the coaches works on a lamp and the owner takes it home, plugs it in, and sets his house on fire?” Well, first of all, that’s never happened. Second, there are some sensible precautions that can be implemented, and the house rules should be read and acknowledged by everyone seeking the services of a repair coach.
When people sign in at the welcome table with their items, they “opt-in” with their signature, indicating that they have read and agree to the house rules. The rules state that the organizers, sponsors, and repair persons are not liable for any physical damage or loss resulting from work performed at the Repair Cafe, and that persons making repairs offer no guarantees and are not liable if objects repaired at the cafe turn out not to work properly at home. The welcome team also reminds people checking in that for everyone’s safety they are always responsible for their own items, and cautions them not to park a fragile object on a chair, for example, then walk away for a cup of coffee.
Appendix 4 is a sample of Repair Cafe house rules. These particular house rules serve as a waiver document for all of the Hudson Valley/Catskills Repair Cafes. The language is derived from text provided by the Repair Café International Foundation. Founder Martine Postma points out that the text contains a generic disclaimer of liability, but that it is “highly advisable to have a local lawyer or legal expert check the validity and enforceability of the warranty and liability clauses in the house rules document.”
Insurance
More than forty Repair Cafes are held in the Hudson Valley/Catskills, New York, area, located in churches and community centers, libraries, and town halls and sponsored by both private and public groups. In nearly all our locations, we’ve found that the host venue’s general liability policy has been deemed adequate to cover our event. Libraries and churches especially need the approval of their board, and an attorney often sits on the board that has approved the program. Repair Cafes are program events that take place under the umbrella of the sponsor organization. We have no separate legal or tax status. If the location where you would like to hold a Repair Cafe requires insurance, be aware that there are many different types of insurance, with different price tags, that vary by state. Consult a local insurance agent and possibly a lawyer before you open the doors to your repair event. At the beginning of every Repair Cafe, organizers must remind coaches, for their own protection, not to work on any item until and unless the customer has signed the liability waiver/house rules form. It’s a good idea to appoint a member of the greeters’ team to circulate the room frequently to make sure that all guests have signed their house rules form, including the liability waiver.
Beyond the Basics
In addition to the basic repair categories, many events offer more creative opportunities to learn, play, and fix what’s wrong. Here are some of the most popular activities.
Kids Take It Apart Table
An adult-supervised Kids Take It Apart Table, stocked with small screwdrivers and donated items deemed by experienced coaches to be beyond repair (VCRs, cassette recorders, portable radios, printers, and cameras are popular), offers kids an opportunity to “see what’s inside” and learn while they play. Putting things back together is not required!
Tinkerbell Station
The Repair Cafe in Vancouver, Canada, offers a Tinkerbell Station designed to encourage girls to tinker. In addition to providing things to safely take apart, girls and boys are also encouraged to repair broken items and use broken tools and other items to make their own creations.
Photo Restoration, Wordsmithing, Listening Corner, and Massage Therapy
In addition to the standard repair categories, the Repair Cafe held at the United Methodist Church in New Paltz, New York, offers photo restoration, “wordsmithing,” a listening corner, and massage therapy. After a career at IBM, Don Grice volunteers to digitally repair damaged photographs. One family brought him a pile of old pictures that had been torn in half long ago to fit into a Bible for safekeeping. “Taking images of each half and digitally restitching them provided new family memories that they didn’t even know existed.” Vernon Benjamin, author of a two-volume history of the Hudson River Valley, has been a writer all his life, “fifteen years in local journalism and thirty or more in public service.” Vern sits next to Don and “fixes sentences (résumés, cover letters, and other writing projects) for free.…I can read people well when working with them on language and am inspired by the small miracles I see when I help someone find their voice and bring it out, seemingly all on their own.”
In addition to helping clients in their private practices, friends, and colleagues, Vallerie Legeay and Leah Stukes provide therapeutic massage for the U.S. Military Academy track-and-field and cross-country teams and, every August, for the athletes at the U.S. Tennis Open Tournament. And they volunteer their time to Repair Cafes. Val says, “I have the sense that we can help repair the tissue and fabric of community, and it starts with people! Too often we throw ourselves away. Ourselves and others.” Leah and Val offer ten-minute chair massages, for neck, shoulders, and backs, at different events. “I can’t repair a bike, but I can bring the power of touch to people. Everyone in the community can be of value to each other,” Leah says. “At the end of a Repair Cafe day,” Val adds, “I find myself satisfied — and tired!”
Jo Gangemi, a practicing psychotherapist, approached the organizer of the Repair Cafe to suggest that active listening is a reparative and restorative act. “People have a hunger to feel heard. Too often the person who appears to be listening is really listening to what’s going on in his own head and preparing a response to what you’re saying. Listening is an art, one that is crucial to really connecting with each other.” Gangemi invites people who have brought broken items to be mended to heal themselves by sitting at her table and talking about whatever is on their minds for five minutes. “Have a seat. Tell me what you’d like to talk about. I’m happy to listen.”
Se Habla Español, Book Restoration, DIY Glue Station
The Repair Cafe held at the Clinton Avenue United Methodist Church in Kingston, New York, has a “Soul Repairer” who takes time to talk, as well as a bilingual advocate who can help Spanish-speakers negotiate difficulties with school, banks, and government offices. In addition, this cafe offers the services of a book restorer, who can also “handle ceramics and other things that require glue and patience.” At the Repair Cafe in Green Ossining, New York, a designated sticky-stuff coach advises visitors how to fix heirloom and everyday broken bits. “A woman came with a whole box of odd and assorted items that needed to be glued,” recalled organizer Michele. “She spent most of the day working under the tutelage of the repair coach and left with a box full of repaired items, a new sense of know-how, and a very grateful heart.”
Healthy and Green Living Tips and Services
Several Repair Cafes have featured a dietitian from a local hospital who provided information about healthy snacks and dispenses samples. Other medical professionals have checked attendees’ blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Sponsors and representatives from organizations promoting green products, technologies, and community activities — like composting, solar energy, home energy audits, and free clothing swaps — often set up tables at Repair Cafes to present information. Some cafes even have expert gardeners on hand to diagnose houseplant problems and offer advice on growing herbs and vegetables.
Library Table and Free to Take Table
A library table stocked with DIY and how-to books is always popular, and you can also provide up-to-date information, courtesy of your municipal recycling station, about where to donate/recycle/dispose of unwanted items. Consider setting up a Free to Take Table for clean, small items in good repair; this is especially popular right after Christmas or in the spring when people are cleaning out basements and attics.
Musical Instrument Repairs and Live Music
Some Repair Cafes offer setup and repairs to stringed musical instruments such as guitars and mandolins. Other locations, especially those with a piano, flute, or guitar-playing volunteer, offer live music.
How Often to Hold Your Event
The frequency of your events will be determined by how often you can book the venue and how often your volunteers can make themselves available. Happy volunteers are key to the success of your event. You want to make sure that you don’t overwork them. Some locations host their events only two or three times a year. One team gathers once a month, but in different locations so that they can reach a variety of communities. Another group holds events once a month, and they also hold monthly organizational meetings and a volunteer group breakfast on event days. Another Repair Cafe hosts events every Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM. In order to reach families that are busy with kids’ weekend activities, one organizer hosts events on weekday evenings for two hours in a variety of locations. The Warwick, New York, team concluded that “we can be cheerful volunteers if our cafe is the third Saturday of every other month.”
After Your Event
Our friendship extends well beyond the Repair Cafe. Most volunteers were strangers before and now are reliable friends.
— Don Shriner, Organizer, Rodeo City Repair Cafe, Ellensburg, Washington
Happy volunteers come back and often invite their family, friends, and co-workers to volunteer too. So it pays to show volunteers that you appreciate their efforts. Phone them. Write thank-you notes. Following every event, email volunteers a follow-up report, ideally with a couple of photos, listing how many people attended, from how many locations, what items they brought, how many items were repaired, and how many couldn’t be fixed and why not.
Highlight any special stories, and share public comments and photos. Email a version of the follow-up report, along with photos, to the sponsor/partner organizations, the mayor and/or town supervisor, the county recycling or solid waste management coordinator, and local media. Encourage all of these individuals and organizations to visit your next event. Lobby elected officials to present a certificate of appreciation to all the volunteers for their efforts to keep useful items out of the landfill while strengthening community connections.
In between events, host a casual potluck picnic or party, and encourage volunteers to bring along a spouse, partner, or friend. Volunteers say that they appreciate this opportunity to visit with fellow volunteers because they’re usually too busy to chat with folks working in other “departments” during the repair event. At your party, invite volunteers to take turns holding a designated “talking tool” — a wrench or screwdriver — and tell a tale about something funny or significant that they observed at a repair event.
Finding Partners and Sponsors
We mostly partner with tool libraries and reuse centers…venues that share similar values.
— Lauren Gross, Co-organizer, Repair PDX, Portland, Oregon
As you think about starting a Repair Cafe in your town, consider how partners and sponsors can help your efforts by offering a free location, legal and tax advice, insurance, financial support, publicity, and/or networking opportunities to help you find volunteers. The diversity of resources available to support you is astonishing. Contact sources in several of the categories listed below to find multiple partners, sponsors, and volunteers who can help make your efforts a success.
Local Government Officials and Programs
Contact your elected representatives and local government. When Dära Salk, a community outreach director for Ameya Pawar, an alderman in Chicago’s Ward 47, read a newspaper article about a Repair Cafe, she approached her boss about getting one started. Pawar, who believes in the importance of creating strong communities for all, included Repair Cafe information in his weekly email newsletter and posted flyers in his office window during his two terms in office. The 47th Ward Repair Cafe officially registered with the Repair Café International Foundation in 2013 and continues to meet at the Conrad Sulzer Regional Library, the second busiest in Chicago, the second Saturday of each month. In Clackamas County, Oregon, the local government pays the rent for the Wichita Center for Family and Community, where the Milwaukie Repair Fair is held, and provides funds for supplies and snacks for volunteers. Another Repair Cafe enjoys the sponsorship of both the village government and the local recreation and parks department, in addition to a coffee shop and a hardware store. The Repair Cafe in Palo Alto, California, received donations of new tools and a supplies trailer from GreenWaste, the city’s contractor for waste and recycle collection, transportation, and processing services.
Libraries
Today’s libraries provide hands-on learning opportunities in addition to books and are ideal partners for creating and sustaining Repair Cafes. In the spring of 2018, for example, Wendy Mahaney of Sustainable Saratoga contacted the Saratoga Springs, New York, Public Library, which was in the process of completing the Green Business Partnership Certification program, to explore how the two organizations might partner. Through social media, email blasts, word of mouth, and good old-fashioned posters, both organizations reached out to the community to find items that needed repair as well as coaches willing to volunteer their time. In Wellfleet, Massachusetts, the Wellfleet Recycling Committee partners with the local library to host a Fixit Clinic. The Wellfleet Public Library is also home to Boomerang Bags Cape Cod, a community of volunteers who gather at the library, twice a month to sew reusable bags from clean, donated textiles. The cloth bags are distributed to the community for free, as an alternative to single-use shopping and tote bags. The Albert Wisner Public Library in Warwick, New York, named “Best Small Library in America” by Library Journal in 2016, hosted repair demos — basic textile mending (hand and machine) techniques, a bike safety check-over clinic, and a workshop on how to sharpen knives, scissors, and hand tools using a whetstone, taught by Repair Cafe volunteers. California’s Berkeley Public Library, North Branch, has established STEM-oriented Fixit Clinics as a regular event.
Religious Institutions and Other Faith-Based Organizations
Perhaps a local church, mosque, synagogue, or temple would be willing to host your Repair Cafe or other reuse/repair event. Faith-based fraternal organizations such as the Knights of Columbus are also a potential source of volunteers. Synagogues often require youngsters preparing for their bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah, the Jewish coming-of-age rituals, to perform community service, as do churches instructing students on the rites of confirmation. GreenFaith, “a coalition for the environment that works with houses of worship, religious schools, and people of all faiths to help them become better environmental stewards,” reminds us that people of many traditions see “repairing — making whole” as integral to their mission to act as good stewards to respect and protect the environment and share resources. The Green Muslims of New Jersey aim to educate people about the importance of environmental stewardship, or “going green,” in the Islamic faith, and to implement strategies to solve problems regarding waste and overconsumption. Quaker Earthcare Witness is a North American network of Friends who are “taking Spirit-led action to address the ecological and social crises of the world, emphasizing Quaker process and testimonies.”
Civic Clubs and Service Clubs
Libraries often host crafts and sewing clubs, another good place to look for skilled coaches. Newcomers Clubs are a resource for people wishing to meet others and enjoy social, civic, and charitable activities. Your local Chamber of Commerce can often provide a list of local organizations and their contact information. Local branches of national organizations such as the Independent Order of Oddfellows, Elks, Lions, Kiwanis, and Rotary clubs offer businesspeople and community leaders a chance to conduct business, socialize, and organize community service projects. These can all be places to find volunteers and participants.
Schools, Colleges, and Universities
Centers of higher learning see the benefits of repair skills too. The City of Gresham, Oregon, and the Coalition of Gresham Neighborhood Associations sponsor a Repair Cafe three times a year at Mt. Hood Community College. The Office of Campus Sustainability at SUNY (State University of New York) in New Paltz hosts a Repair Cafe each semester, with repair talent drawn from faculty, staff, and students — a rare opportunity to bring those three parts of the college community together.
Members of the campus undergraduate chapter of the Society of Women Engineers at the Francis College of Engineering in Lowell, Massachusetts, hosted a Repair Cafe for the campus and community. Linda Barrington, the college’s engineering service-learning coordinator, described it this way: “Our twist is having women engineering students learn the hands-on skills to become experts, building their confidence to persist in the male dominated culture of engineering.”
Retirees and Senior Associations
Retirees and seniors often feel isolated or without purpose when they no longer have a job to go to every morning. Such feelings can be even worse for those who have lost a spouse or have moved to a new community, without an existing network of family, friends, and co-workers. A recent study in AARP magazine reported, “When it comes to your health, loneliness may be as bad as smoking and worse than obesity.…Researchers also found that people with stronger social relationships had a fifty percent increased likelihood of survival than those whose relationships were weaker.…Maintaining a social life isn’t just good fun — it’s good for you.”
Repair Cafes, clinics, and collectives, especially those held in senior centers located in housing complexes or town or village halls, provide a regularly scheduled event, in a location open to people of all ages and lifestyles, for retirees and seniors to share their organizational and technical skills while interacting with others who value their expertise. Plus, they say it’s fun! Some counties, in conjunction with the public library system, publish a senior resource guide that lists senior social groups and retiree clubs, another potential source for volunteers.
Historical Societies
Historical societies and historic houses, farms, and museums, with their emphasis on preserving the past and presenting repairs as living history, offer partnership opportunities. “I can’t fix the world’s problems, and I don’t focus on that,” says Dawn Elliott, site manager at Locust Lawn Historic House and Farm, where she also organizes a Repair Cafe and mends textiles. Dawn, who sometimes wields her needle at the New Paltz Repair Cafe, says, “I help turtles cross the street; I darn socks.”
Earth-Friendly and Reuse Events
Many cities recognize National Reuse Day on October 20. Earth Day is always celebrated on April 22, followed by Arbor Day, which falls on the last Friday in April. National events such as these and local events — like seasonal volunteer cleanups of roads, rivers, and parks; reuse events such as free community swaps; and end-of-the-school-year “green” locker cleanouts to salvage reusable supplies — are ready-made opportunities to promote your repair event to like-minded people.
Michele, a homemaker, mom, teacher’s assistant, and Repair Cafe organizer from Ossining, New York, displayed a poster at a farmers’ market, and by the end of the day, she had collected a skeleton crew of expert repair coaches. When Michele displayed her poster at the town’s Earth Day Festival, which attracted nearly one hundred vendors promoting sustainable ideas, activities, and products, “more volunteers signed up,” she says, “and we were ready to set a date for our first event!”
Climate Smart Communities, Climate Action Coalitions, and Transition Towns
In New York State, the Climate Smart Communities (CSC) program helps local governments take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a changing climate. Organizing an ongoing repair program is an “action item” for CSC communities, which aim to mitigate and adapt to climate change at the local level. Points are awarded for each action item, which can qualify towns for funding. In LaGrange, New York, the Climate Action Coalition organizes the town’s repair event. Transition US, a nonprofit organization that seeks to equip people and communities with the skills to make the transition from fossil fuels to a sustainable future, sponsors Repair Cafes and Fixit Clinics in more than twenty towns in the United States.
Green Clubs, Businesses, and Nonprofit Organizations
National and local environmental, ecological, and sustainability clubs and organizations such as the National Audubon Society, Riverkeeper, Youth Against Plastic Pollution, Mass Green Network, rural lands foundations, land trusts, and preservation alliances are natural partners.
One Hudson Valley Repair Cafe enjoys the support of the Dutchess County Soil and Water Conservation District, as well as the Climate Action Coalition. The Sierra Club, Lower Hudson Group, cosponsors Repair Cafes held in Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties in New York by providing publicity. Sustainable Warwick sponsors a Repair Cafe because it exemplifies the organization’s goals: “It enables people to reuse items instead of tossing them in the landfill and buying new ones, which would require new materials and energy to produce.”
Look for “green” 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations such as the Scrap Exchange of Durham, North Carolina, a creative reuse center whose mission is to promote creativity, environmental awareness, and community through reuse. The Scrap Exchange operates a retail store where local residents purchase donated materials — anything from bolts of fabric to a manufacturing overrun of bottle caps — for use in activities ranging from art projects to home repair. The Scrap Exchange hosts Repair Cafe workshops organized and staffed by Repair Cafe NC, headed by Don Fick, which also runs bimonthly events in nearby Cary, North Carolina.
Fablabs, Hackerspaces, and Makerspaces
Fablabs, hackerspaces, and makerspaces — the community-based, not always for profit, DIY spaces where people gather to create, repurpose, and learn to tinker — are similar to Repair Cafes, Fixit Clinics, and Fixers Collectives. In Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, high school student Tyler Bernotas, whose grandfather taught him to repair things with whatever was at hand, convinced the owner of a local makerspace to partner with him to hold their town’s first Repair Cafe. When the makerspace was no longer available, Tyler moved his cafe to the town’s Technical College High School, a public school specializing in career and technical education for students in grades nine through twelve that is also a partner for economic and workforce development.
Vita Wells, founder of the Culture of Repair Project in Berkeley and Oakland, California, has been collaborating with maker educators to develop strategies for integrating maker-centered education in K-12 schools. Among their goals are encouraging hands-on learning and critical thinking and teaching youth to repair rather than “reflexively trash and repurchase.”
TimeBanks
A TimeBank is a community-based skill-sharing system. Members earn credit for every hour spent helping someone with a task. Everyone’s time is equal, whether it’s been spent doing something as complex as writing a will or as simple as walking a dog. “The vision and values of Repair Cafes fit our core values,” says Micaela Salatino, project director of the Long Beach, California, Time Exchange. “[This includes] sharing of skills and helping each other out, the passing on of skills, the inter-generational aspects and gathering people from all walks of life on a common cause.”
Habitat for Humanity ReStores, Thrift and Reuse Centers
Habitat ReStores, independently owned reuse stores operated by local Habitat for Humanity organizations, accept donations of household items and building materials to be resold to the public at a fraction of the retail price. While the New River Valley TimeBank, based in Christiansburg, Virginia, held a Repair Cafe at their local Habitat ReStore in October of 2017, students from Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech provided household tips at a Sustainability Exposition, held in the ReStore’s parking lot. LaGrange, New York, Repair Cafe organizer John Sommer, who volunteers at a nearby Habitat Re-Store, saves key parts from damaged donated items so they can be used to make repairs to other damaged items, which in turn can go back on the floor for sale. Recently, he used a salvaged spindle to match the finish on a damaged chair brought to his Repair Cafe. Finger Lakes ReUse, with two centers located in Ithaca, New York, provides a convenient and affordable way to donate, purchase, and reuse home goods, furniture, electronics, clothing, books, and building materials. The organization has returned more than 2,059,000 items back into use, with a $2.1 million budget, thirty-eight living wage employees, sixty regular volunteers, and hundreds of other volunteers and supporters. Finger Lakes ReUse hosts the Ithaca Fixers Collective every Saturday afternoon from three to five o’clock.
Where to Get More Information
There is no one right way to set up and run a repair event, and there are many helpful guides. Some are free; others ask for a donation. The Repair Café International Foundation in Amsterdam offers a digital starter kit, with practical advice based on years of experience to help you through all the stages of setting up and promoting your own Repair Cafe. Vita Wells, who spearheaded a Fixit Clinic and Repair Cafe in Berkeley, California, also recommends these sources:
•The Restart Party Kit and supporting material, from the Restart Project: therestartproject.org
•“Start a Clinic,” from Fixit Clinic: fixitclinic.blogspot.com
•“Host a Fix-It Clinic: A Comprehensive Guide,” from the City of Austin, Texas: austintexas.gov (search fixitclinic)
•The digital starter kit from the Repair Café International Foundation in Amsterdam: repaircafe.org