South Surrey Repair Café helps local residents fix items and share skills

A South Surrey-White Rock neighbourhood house is inviting locals to bring their small household items to be repaired by volunteers.

The non-profit Alex House will host a Repair Café on Feb. 8 from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. The aim of the event is to reduce waste by mending items instead of throwing them away.

Repair Café organizer Gillian Roberts says people often bring in small appliances like mixers, kettles, and coffee makers. Clothing is also available for repairs.

“Sometimes, we get a lot of sewing things, others we don’t,” Roberts says. “It’s often repairing rips. Some people want things darned.”

Roberts says the idea for the event began in 2019 — and the team has been hosting it ever since, with a brief pause during the pandemic.

“There were about four or five of us who did group organizing [at that time],” Roberts says. “We work as a cooperative, and now we have a café. We have about 25 volunteers.”

The volunteers can also help with mechanical and electrical repairs, knife sharpening, sewing, and more, but they do not allow gas-powered devices or large machinery to be brought in for fixes, Roberts says.

Once a person signs up, they wait with that item for a volunteer. People can have only one item repaired at a time, and if a person has other items to fix, they need to get in line again, Roberts adds.

People are encouraged to stay while volunteers repair their items, giving them an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the process.

“You sit at a table, you’re across from them, and they work on your item,” Roberts says. “The fixer will either know about the item, look things up online, or confirm with other fixers. It’s a very cooperative environment.”

She adds people can also fix the items themselves with guidance from the volunteers and with the tools provided.

Through this approach, people can learn what not to buy next time and what to look for instead, Roberts says, adding the café sees between 50 to 70 items during the three-hour event.

“We actually keep a lot of things out of the landfill because they’re being fixed. People tend to learn a little bit about buying less or buying smarter.”

Creating a sense of community is also one impact of the Repair Café, where volunteers, ranging from teenagers to seniors, gather together to pass skills on, Roberts says.

“Some people are very introverted and kind of nerdy — they’ll work on something and they like doing that. Other people are very social, and they can organize and do all these other things,” Roberts says.

“Some people are all in between, but they work well together…. [The event] brings a lot of different types of people together.”

Once the item is fixed, a person can take a photo of the repaired item, learn about future events, and contribute to the donation jar, with all funding supporting the Repair Café.

For more information about Alex House, visit www.alexhouse.net.