Volunteers at Repair Café keep Knox County running

The Repair Café stands as a beacon of sustainability and community spirit, founded on one simple idea: Fix your broken items, instead of throwing them away. Started in Amsterdam in 2009 by journalist Martine Postma, the concept has since spread globally, inspiring thousands of local initiatives. At its core, a Repair Café is a free meeting place where people come together to repair household items rather than discard them. In our modern, throwaway society, this simple idea carries profound implications for the environment, personal empowerment, and social connection.

“I found out about it in 2018,” said Knox County’s Mark Tillack. “I’m not sure what I was searching for at the time, but ‘Repair Café’ popped up in a search engine and I thought, ‘What is that?’ Then I started reading about it, thinking that it was such a nifty idea.”

As an organizer at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Mount Vernon, Tillack saw that the idea of opening a branch of the Repair Café in the church basement would be a great way to reach out into the community and, perhaps help build the congregation.

“Churches offer a variety of services in the community.” said Tillack. “Whether that is visitation in hospitals or sponsoring the Girl Scouts to do a cleanup of litter. Anyway, I saw (The Repair Café) as a tie-in with the church. The church could offer the space. Then, we could find volunteers to do the repairs.”

The primary goal of a Repair Café is to reduce waste. Modern products, from electronics to clothing, are often designed with limited lifespans, encouraging consumers to buy new rather than fix old. This cycle contributes to overflowing landfills and excessive resource consumption. By repairing items, Repair Cafés help extend product life, conserve raw materials, and reduce carbon emissions associated with manufacturing and transportation. Every repaired toaster, bicycle, or jacket represents a small but meaningful victory against environmental degradation.

Beyond environmental benefits, Repair Cafés foster a sense of empowerment and skill-sharing. Many people today lack basic repair knowledge, having grown up in a culture where convenience often displaces craftsmanship. At a Repair Café, volunteers with expertise in electronics, sewing, carpentry, and other trades, guide participants through the repair process. This hands-on learning experience not only saves money but also builds confidence and practical skills.

Equally important is the social dimension of Repair Cafés. These events create spaces where neighbors meet, collaborate, and exchange stories. In an era of digital communication and social isolation, such face-to-face interactions are invaluable. Repair Cafés often become vibrant community hubs, promoting solidarity and mutual aid. They demonstrate that sustainability is not just about individual choices but about collective action and shared responsibility.

Currently, the Repair Café of Knox County Ohio meets on a quarterly basis, on a scheduled day, toward the middle of the month.

“I enjoy volunteering at the Repair Cafe because I like the challenge of fixing things and the opportunity to help people out,” said Mount Vernon’s Guy Harper, who work’s at ACE electric, building data centers in New Albany. As a mechanical engineer, I troubleshoot every day and this lets me apply my skills to a wide variety of things.”

Harper, who formerly worked for Ariel in Mount Vernon, brings a boatload of skills to the Repair Café, where he takes on tasks, raging from the more mundane, to the unusual.

“We see a lot of vacuums and lamps, but we also see unique, novelty things like Voltan the Electronic Fortune Teller,” said Harper. “We collaborate with each other and enjoy the fellowship. We are even willing to teach how to repair.”

Bruce Hawkins worked in education for 48 years and 38 as a superintendent. His reason to join the Repair Café was simple.

“I like to repair things,” said Hawkins. “My grandfather was an electrical contractor before electricity went to residential houses. He started by wiring doorbells by batteries then changed gas lights into electric lights. My father followed in his footsteps and was an electrical contractor for many years. As a youth, I assisted him in wiring houses. At the Repair Café, I work on many different projects, but I specialize in electrical repairs.

Hawkins, who also collaborated on the Volton Fortune Teller project, enjoy’s putting his vast knowledge to the test.

“It was fun to see it work again,” said Hawkins, who added. “Other volunteers also have specialties like computer repair, clocks, sewing machines, bicycles, and much more.”

In a society that loads up its landfills with items that are built to barely outlast the factory warranty, the Repair Café helps people to reduce, reuse and recycle.

“It gives the community a chance to get things repaired for free rather than throwing items in the trash,” said Hawkins.

The success of the Repair Café movement lies in its simplicity and adaptability. Anyone can start one with minimal resources. One simply needs a venue, a few tools, and volunteers willing to share their skills. Many cafés operate in libraries, community centers, or schools, making them accessible to all.

The Repair Café is more than a place to fix broken items; it is a symbol of resistance against wastefulness and a catalyst for community engagement. By promoting repair over replacement, it challenges the norms of consumer culture and offers a practical path toward a more sustainable future. As the movement grows, it reminds us that small actions — like mending a torn shirt or repairing a faulty lamp — can collectively lead to significant change. In repairing things, we also repair our relationship with the planet and with each other.

The next Repair Cafe' is Saturday, May 16, from 1-4 p.m. The other two dates for 2026 are Aug. 15 and Nov. 14.

For more information about the Repair Café in Mount Vernon, to volunteer, or to bring your broken item to be fixed, and to find out the time and date of the Repair Café’s next meeting, please call (740) 291-9125. You may, also log on to the Repair Café of Knox County Ohio’s Facebook page at the following address: https://facebook.com/KnoxRepairCafe.