Repair Cafes Year 2 Launches Saturday, February 9!
On Saturday, February 9, Ridge Meadows Recycling Society is launching their second year of Repair Cafés at the Maple Ridge Library from 11am – 2pm with funding provided by Vancity’s enviroFund grant.
Repair Cafés are pop-up events where residents can bring their broken items (small appliances, jewelry, clothing, small toys or furniture, etc.) and there are tools, materials, and volunteer expert “fixers” available to help residents learn to repair their stuff!
“Last year’s Repair Cafés were a huge success,” says Leanne Koehn, Community Engagement for Ridge Meadows Recycling Society and Coordinator of the Repair Cafés, “We introduced the concept of Repair Cafés to our community, gathered a strong group of talented volunteer ‘fixers,’ and kept many, many items out of the landfill! We are now able to help people from other areas who want to start up their own Repair Cafés!”
In 2018, the group held 8 Repair Cafés in 6 different venues, partnering with the Maple Ridge Library, the Ridge Meadows Seniors’ Society, the Celebrate Earth Day festival, the Haney Farmers Market, and GETI Fest. The Cafés were initiated in large part with funding from the Government of Canada’s New Horizons for Seniors program, donations from Haney Builders, and media sponsorship from the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows NEWS.
The goals of Maple Ridge Repair Cafes are to:
- Bring back repair into local society in a modern way
- Maintain repair expertise and share and pass on valuable knowledge and skills that have been learned over lifetimes, building individual and community capacity
- Promote social cohesion in the local community by connecting neighbours
- Repair and reuse items that would’ve ended up in the landfill
- Encourage people to value and appreciate their possessions
So far, the community has brought 400 items to be fixed by Maple Ridge Repair Café’s 50 volunteers, including 39 lamps, 20 clocks, 17 pairs of pants, 8 bracelets, 5 toasters, 3 stools, and a ceramic chicken!
Get Involved!
Know someone who has repair skills, wants to learn them, or just wants to help out? Send them to the online form at www.mrrepaircafe.ca or email mrrepaircafe@gmail.com to volunteer as a “Fixer” or a “Helper” and become a Repair Café hero!
To learn more, visit www.mrrepaircafe.ca or visit the Maple Ridge Repair Café Page on Facebook, email mrrepaircafe@gmail.com or phone Leanne at 604-463-5545.
