The South Cariboo Farmers Market is playing host to the 100 Mile Repair Cafe this summer.
Starting on Friday, May 12, a table will be set aside for the cafe where community members can bring broken and damaged electronics, furniture, clothing and other household items. They’ll then get the chance to sit down with handymen and other experts to learn how to repair the damage.
The 100 Mile Repair Cafe is the brainchild of organizer Kaye Castleman who said she was inspired by the repair cafe in Gibsons.
“They have a really vibrant repair cafe there and that was my introduction to the idea. I used it and I thought this was such a wonderful service,” Castleman said.”I thought 100 Mile House would be a perfect location for something like this.”
The 100 Mile Repair Cafe first began to form back in March when Castleman put out a post on Facebook asking if the community would be interested in forming one. Before long, the post received several positive comments and Castleman was organizing a meeting at the 100 Mile Library.
Right now, Castleman said there are around 10 people involved in the cafe, both as organizers and fixers. She is hoping that more people join in over the course of the summer and bring their own talents to the table.
“After talking to the people who had already organized one… a couple of the things that appealed to me were the economic and environmental aspects.”
In addition to keeping old products out of landfills and in use, Castleman said the service really benefits seniors and those with low incomes. A simple fix can help them avoid the large unnecessary expense of replacing a bicycle, microwave or other household appliance.
The cafe will also provide a way for older handymen and handywomen to pass on their skills to other people.
“Those skills are just languishing, especially around here. Older men were the original cohort who was targeted but really anybody can be involved,” Castleman said. “We’re also hoping to do sewing repairs which is a really big thing for people. We can expand into a lot of different areas for repair work that can’t be done anywhere else.”
Castleman said the group intends to run the cafe by donation, until the farmers market season ends and then reevaluate. If there’s enough interest, they will look to continue things in an indoor venue, though at this time Castleman said they have no location confirmed.
“A lot will depend on the availability of people, not everybody can come all the time to repair. It might become a rotational thing where people will be there when they can,” Castleman said. “If over the week we can sort out a schedule we might post that in the paper. All of this is still very much in the works.”
Anyone interested in joining the repair cafe is invited to reach out to Castleman at 604-399-9222 or to Laura Norie at 250-983-263.
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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