On Saturday, April 26, a spring Oceanside Repair Café will be held in Qualicum Beach. This popular community event, following a large turn-out at the Oceanside Repair Café in January, will take place at St. Stephen’s United Church Hall, 150 Village Way, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Neighbourhood organizers are calling upon anyone who has useful or precious items in need of repair to attend. Avoid arriving at the last minute, though, as repairs brought in earlier may be in progress until closing time!
The Repair Café is dedicated to creating a place for people to bring their broken or damaged goods rather than throwing them into the landfill. Local volunteers with a knack for repairing will help them fix items for free.
Those working on repairs at the spring event will be skilled in the areas of small appliances, small electronics (that are reparable), tech items such as computers and phones, furniture and woodworking, and mending clothes. Special to this event will be repairing children’s toys, and bicycle repair for spring cruising. Strollers are also welcome!
Organizers encourage people to limit their items for repair to one. If people bring more than one, they may be asked to wait for more help, depending on the turnout. Also helpful is bringing supplies that may be needed for the repair, such as a zipper or a special part, and batteries. At this event, bring in your used pens and batteries, as recycling stations will be set up for these items.
Attendees are invited to watch and learn from repairers, while enjoying free coffee, tea, muffins and cookies supplied by the “Café” on site. Voluntary donations to help fund future Repair Cafés in Oceanside are appreciated.
“It’s spring and a time of renewal,” says Sarah Chezick, one of the organizers of the event. “Time to get that repair done, and to think about how it saves the environment. We have new things happening at our event, as well, such as providing reading material on the subjects of consumption, waste and repair at the Café, and new ways of tracking and measuring what is saved from the landfill.” Most of all, organizers and volunteer repair people feel rewarded by the positive feedback from those who participate.