Coffee with side order of busted toaster brings cafe customers flocking for help

When things break, there can be reluctance to throw them away. The environmentally-conscious crowd might hesitate to waste a product needing only minor repairs, while the frugal might be reluctant to buy a new item when such a splurge seems unnecessary, and the sentimental might be unable to part from a worn-out heirloom. Repair Cafe Oshkosh, a local volunteer organization, offers a solution. Since it opened last June, the group has organized four cafe sessions, the most recent of which was held at the downtown YMCA on May 11. During these events, community members can bring broken items to be fixed for free by a team of repairers whose skills range from small engine and tech repair, to jewelry making and sewing. 

Repair Cafe Oshkosh offers numerous benefits to the community, including promoting sustainable practices by reducing the amount of waste being put into landfills. Micheal Borucke, an organizer for Repair Cafe, said that the project can help individuals combat wasteful habits that have entered American culture.

“Some people might understand it to be an environmentally good thing,” he said. “People are not throwing away as much if they can get something fixed or if they can find some replacement parts.” 

Workers at cafes are often able to repair items usually not accepted at other locations, or that were even designed so as not to be repairable. Alan Labeau, who has brought items to two cafes and helps greet community members at the event, once struggled to clean a fan because the screws holding the item together had been specially designed by the manufacturer to prevent ordinary consumers from opening the device and doing such repairs. Labeau was able to find a solution to this problem at Repair Cafe. 

“This fellow, he was able to open it up and take the screws out, and I was able to clean the fan and not have to buy a new one,” he said. “I was happy that it could be opened up.”

Repair Cafe Oshkosh is part of a network of hundreds of other cafes around the globe and the first branch to open in Wisconsin. For many in the community this is a vital resource, such as Donna Stratton, a seamstress at the Cafe.

“The people who can’t afford to buy new, they can go and get things repaired, and that’s what it’s about,” she said. 

Fixers are not always able to repair the items that community members bring in. Labeau once found that an electric kettle he hoped to have fixed at a cafe event was broken beyond repair. Despite this letdown, Labeau believes this was a positive experience.

“That was all I needed to know -- I wanted to know whether I could throw it away or whether it could be repaired,” he said.

Being able to use their skills to help community members is a gratifying experience for Repair Cafe volunteers. Stratton said that she finds fulfillment in being able to offer this community service, even when larger projects need to be taken home for her to finish outside the time scheduled at the cafe. 

“Sometimes it takes longer than just the time we have there to fix them, but the looks on their faces—it’s just so worthwhile,” she said.

Labeau said that community members who visit cafes feel a similar sense of appreciation when they see their items fixed. He had a friend who brought a blouse hand-sewed for her by her late mother to the cafe when a buttonhole on the shirt broke.

“She couldn’t repair it because it was an elaborate sewing technique, and she took it to the Repair Cafe and they were able to fix this blouse,” he said. “She was so happy because there was so much sentimental value in that blouse for her.”

Stratton noted that Repair Cafe events are light-hearted places to connect with other community members.

“It’s a fun thing,” she said. “There’s a really great atmosphere there.”

Repair Cafes also offer the chance for community members to learn repair techniques from fixers and develop their own skills set.

“There’s the opportunity to learn something new,” Borucke said. “You’re getting something fixed and you’re seeing how it gets fixed for next time.”

Borucke said that he hopes that the movement will continue to expand in the area, and mentioned that a group of volunteers is working to set up a new Repair Cafe in Appleton. He also suggested that volunteers might be able to establish more localized cafes to bring the service to more specific groups within the community.

“If there was a UW-Oshkosh Repair Cafe or an Oshkosh North and Oshkosh West Repair Cafe, that’d be great,” he said. “Our goal is having as many people from the community come as possible, especially from marginalized communities. We want this to be for everyone, period.”

by Aria Boehler

Published May 20 2024

Oshkosh West Index volume 120 issue VIII