Repair Café brings tools back to life

By Mike Barry

The Ottawa Tool Library hosted its second Repair Café on Dec. 9, bringing volunteers and residents together in Centretown to fix broken household items.

At the event, held at Makerspace North in the City Centre complex off Albert Street, volunteers known as “fixers” spent the day bringing utility back to malfunctioning kitchen appliances, old furniture, broken musical instruments, defective computers and a wide range of other busted items — all the while sharing their expertise with the community.

The turnout was larger than expected.

“We opened the doors at 11, but there were already people outside waiting. We had a lineup at first,” said Bettina Vollmerhausen, co-founder of the Ottawa Tool Library, a sharing service for pricey equipment that patrons would otherwise have to buy or rent. “I’m super exhausted but also super excited.”

Marit Quist-Corbett is one the volunteers with the Ottawa Tool Library and the aunt of Martine Postma, the Dutch woman who pioneered the concept of the repair café in Amsterdam in 2009. More than 900 of the events have been held since around the world.

“It’s a giant, interconnected project, which I think is amazing,” said Shelley Taylor, project coordinator at the Ottawa Tool Library.

The initiative aims to have a positive impact on the environment by reducing the number of household items that end up as trash. Ecology Ottawa endorsed the event and invited local citizens to participate: “These events help to make tremendous progress toward reducing landfill waste, helping citizens from all over become aware of the impact of consumption, build community, teach skills, and much more.”

“We’ve been basically fooled by big business into believing that we always need an expert to do everything, and that things aren’t really worth fixing,” said Taylor. “We’ve been absolutely hoodwinked.”

“We live in a finite place,” added Vollmerhausen. “We have to start taking care of this planet a lot better.”

The 23 volunteers in attendance fixed a wide variety of items, including jewelry, bicycles, blenders, wheelbarrows and Christmas lights. Computer specialists were also there, showing people how to protect their personal information by wiping the hard drives of old computers before proper disposal.

Megan Butcher worked as a fixer, specializing in fixing broken lights — a skill she acquired with the help of a friend 10 years ago. She enjoys the challenge of rewiring vintage lamps, and seeks them out at garage and church sales.

“The first thing that I fixed this morning was a little hand-crank sewing machine, probably from at least the ’50s, maybe earlier,” said Butcher. “Eventually we just fixed the tension and it all started working again.”

“I’ve also learned a couple of new things myself,” said Butcher.

Following the success of the first event in April, the group applied for and received a grant from the Ottawa Trillium Foundation.

“This grant allows us to take Repair Cafés around the city,” said Vollmerhausen. “We want to keep this travelling around.”

The Repair Café also had a social aspect. Coffee and baked goods are served throughout the event and a colouring table is available for children.

There is an educational component, too; the fixers not only repair items, but also teach people how to do it themselves.

“It builds community,” said Vollmerhausen.

The Ottawa Tool Library also holds “Maker Days,” under the same grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, where organizers provide free tools and workspace for people who want to create.

“I really love this idea of neighbours sharing skills with neighbours,” said Taylor.

The next Repair Café will be held in February at the Foster Farm Community Centre in west-end Ottawa.