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Evanston Repair Café November 2023

A Climate Action Program

"Never take broken for an answer" Following the Ifixit motto, the Repair Café Volunteers will do their best to bring your beloved items back to life... with your help!

So, what is this all about? 

Repair Café's are free meeting spaces where people fix things together. Besides the obvious money saving, RC's help keep stuff out of the landfill, promote connection and collaboration, skill-sharing and community self-reliance.

So give it a try! Find that broken item you never brought yourself to throw away (remember, there is no "away"!) and sign up for a slot that matches the type or repair you need. Once at the Repair Café, you will work together with our volunteers to repair your items.

These are our repair categories.  Please sign up for ONE SINGLE SLOT per event. Additional slots will be deleted. 

• Small Appliances: Make sure you add make and model when you sign up, as well as a description of what is not working. 
• Electronics: Bring items fully charged and/or with ALL their power cords. (Printers: bring the cable that connects it to your computer!) Sorry, no TV sets or VCRs.
• Sewing: We focus on teaching you how to repair, so we do not provide alteration or tailoring services. We can try to repair sliders, but we don't replace ZIPPERS.
• Jewelry: Restringing, fixing clasps or chains, gluing, basic cleaning and polishing We do not solder. Watch bands are not our specialty but we can try:)

At some of our events you will find additional repair categories (check the actual sign up to see what is available. Remember, you can only sign up for ONE time slot per event):

• Bikes: We handle basic repairs such as slipped chains, loose bolts, stuck seats, handlebars...
• Paper and Book Conservation: We will be able to provide you with guidelines and advice on care and maintenance for your books, paper art and photographs, as well as direct you to local conservation and heritage professionals.
• Knife Sharpening: Bring a knife or a pair of scissors to have them sharpened and to learn more about blade sharpening.
• Sock darning: Bring your sock(s) and, ideally, the matching thread you want to use to learn how to darn them.

Your items must be clean, particularly clothing, vacuum cleaner hoses, filters, air purifiers, toasters, blenders... 
Spare parts: Bring them if you know them to maximize the chances of getting it repaired!

Co-sponsored with Climate Action Evanston.
We are grateful to the Evanston Repair Café volunteers for their expertise, time and support.

Questions? Bea at  becheverria@cityofevanston.org or webuildcommunityevanston@gmail.com.

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