A 10-year-old may be able to fix your bicycle or maybe a 95-year-old woman could patch a hole in your favourite sweater.
Knox Presbyterian Church at 120 Taylor Rd. in Bracebridge will be hosting a repair café on Saturday, April 20, just a couple of days before Earth Day the following Monday.
Candice Goodchild is bringing her three kids with her to teach them about the importance of reusing items.
“It’s a really exciting movement for people who want to hopefully save some money, to not have to throw away things, to be able to fix things but, also, even more importantly, to be able to eliminate things from going to a landfill and to encourage reusing things and keeping them as long as possible,” she explains.
Along with clothes and bikes, Goodchild says they may be able to fix small appliances, wooden furniture, books, instruments, toys, jewelry, and old technology like phones or televisions.
Rev. Heather Malnick says there will be at least 10 to 12 people on hand. “We’re not experts at this,” she cautions. “The people giving their time are volunteers.”
She adds while they may not be able to fix your item – or items – this weekend, they will try to find someone who can. “We hear all about these horror stories about our electronic waste that is being shipped to people in another country and they’re getting sick from dealing with our garbage,” says Malnick.
Anyone looking to help can call 705-645-4521 or email [email protected].
“The very first person to volunteer to be a fixer was a 95-year-old amazing woman from our congregation who is a very gifted fabric artist,” continues Malnick.
She adds high schoolers are welcome to join, pointing out they can get volunteer hours.
“Small steps matter,” says Goodchild. “I think that when many people make small steps towards positive change a great impact can happen.”