Post-Helene 2024 Schedule Update

 October was a huge month for all of us in Western Carolina.  

 

Back in 2018, when we first started, our press releases were already including language like "building resilient communities."  Last month we finally saw what those words actually mean, and now, more so than ever I'm incredibly honored to be a part of this community we've built.  

Huge thanks as always to the many volunteers that have helped in the past, and especially to those that came out in October to one of our many disaster relief repair pop-ups.  In the three weeks following Helene, the course of 10 pop-up repair events, our volunteers looked at over 600 Chainsaws and at least 50 generators, all while boasting a nearly 90% success rate! Because of volunteer help, and the foundation we've laid over the past 6 years, we are now in a position to literally define how community repair groups CAN be mobilized quickly to respond to natural disasters in their communities. 

Communication was a little hectic for a while there! Sorry for all the confusion coming from me about new dates, and cancelled events, etc.  Here is an updated calendar to clear up any confusion about the remaining schedule for 2024:

Reaching New Communities in Haywood County

 

WNC Repair Cafe is expanding further west into Haywood County - We're very grateful for our friends at Haywood Community College and First United Methodist Church for welcoming us into this already resilient and tight-knit community.  Although the WNC Repair Cafe leadership will remain constant, this is almost like starting a new program entirely from scratch; we're actively recruiting local volunteers in the area, so please help us spread the word, and we're looking forward to meeting everyone in April!

Stitching Stuffies

 

We're very excited to announce these special children's repair workshops, hosted by Buncombe Co. libraries and made possible with a grant from Culture of Repair! 

 

We believe that sewing is a safe and accessible repair skill that children can learn with help from experienced adults, and we believe that teaching a child to repair their stuffed animals is a great opportunity to foster a culture of repair starting at a very young age.  

 

These workshops are about more than just teaching skills. Focusing on tactile, accessible, hands-on skills provides an opportunity to introduce concepts of environmental sustainability that feel concrete, and immediate, as opposed to solely abstract learning.  Children have an intimate connection with their stuffed animals, and through repairing their stuffed animals, which they can then take home, children will have a daily reminder of their ability to improve their material world; a potential direct connection to positive environmental outcomes and their improved self-esteem.  

 

We'll begin the workshop with a short lesson that puts the act of repair in the context of environmental and economic sustainability. Following the lesson, one of our skilled repair coaches will demonstrate a simple overhand stitch, and then we'll break into small groups where children can learn to repair their own ripped or town stuffed animals. Each small group of children will have it's own skilled repair coach to guide children through their own repairs. All children will go home with a stuffed animal that they have successfully repaired on their own.

 

Attendance is limited to 20 children for each day. Sign up following the links below:

 

February 22 from 4:30 to 6:00, Pack Memorial Library

 

March 6 from 4:30 to 6:00, West Asheville Public Library 

 

March 9 from 10:30-12:00, Pack Memorial Library

 

March 23 from 12:30-2:00, West Asheville Public Library

 

Do you have stuffed animals you'd like to donate to the program? Drop off locations are at the Pack Library children's room and the West Asheville Library. Do you have a large lot you'd like to donate? Email Dan at WNCRepairCafe@gmail.com and we can arrange a pickup. 

 

2024 WNC Repair Cafe Schedule

2023 was a big year for Community Repair in western North Carolina:

• WNC Repair Cafe organized over a dozen repair events hosted by the Asheville Tool Library and Buncombe County libraries. 
  
• With help from our friends at Repair Cafe NC, WNC Repair Cafe joined the Triangle Repair Network and is now a registered 501-c3 non-profit in the state of North Carolina!
• We have been awarded our first grant! (Much more on this later)
• We expanded our repair events to reach Hendersonville, while working to create a template that makes it easier to maintain repair cafes under new leadership in other NC communities. 

We're starting off 2024 with an expanded schedule, reaching more WNC communities:

We'll return to the Asheville Tool Library for SIX general repair events, on bimonthly intervals, each on the first Thursday of that month.   All events are from 5:00-8:00 PM.  At these events, we'll be fixing nearly anything you might find in your house:  small appliances, lamps and other electrical items, tools, furniture, heirlooms, some electronics, small engines, bicycles, and more.  

Buncombe county libraries will continue to host mending events.  Here, we'll fix anything that can be fixed with thread.   Our 2024 expanded mending event schedule is more irregular. 

All Buncombe County workshop dates are listed here:

please feel free to share, print and post where it can be seen!

We'll be adding more dates and special events as move into 2024.  Always check our events page for the most updated information, and as always, send an email to WNCRepairCafe@gmail.com if you have any questions. 

With Expanded Leadership, Repair Cafe Returns to Hendersonville

Those who have followed WNC Repair Cafe for a long time will know that we started in 2018 in the workshop of a working farm on the north edge of Henderson County.  Since the pandemic, and subsequent closing of that farm, we've found a wonderful home at the Asheville Tool Library and Buncombe County libraries.  Still, many of our visitors and volunteers alike travel from Henderson County.  Others have mentioned the drive is simply too far, especially for those who have difficulty driving at night. 

Given these circumstances, we are especially grateful for the Blue Ridge Community College Library and the efforts of local organizer Ann Swift for bringing WNC Repair Cafe back to Henderson County.  We'll start with sewing and mending for our first event, with a plan to expand into full service Repair Cafes for 2024.  This first event is only week away, but there has already been great enthusiasm and support from a suite of talented local volunteers.  This is all very exciting for us!

Our friends at Repair Cafe NC are making similar moves to expand access to Repair Cafes across the North Carolina piedmont.  To accomplish this, lead organizer Don Fick, is using a similar tactic: relying on local leadership to organize volunteers, coordinate with local venues and promote events.  

Are you interested in becoming a local Repair Cafe organizer under the North Carolina based Repair Cafe network?  Send us an email and we'll start a conversation!

Building a Community of Repair

Drawing from increasingly wider network, WNC Repair Cafe events at the Asheville Tool Library have been steadily building momentum in 2023.  Having completed four expanded repair cafe events so far in 2023, our committed volunteers have come to expect the unexpected. We see our fair share of lamps, tools, appliances and small engines, but we're also taking on the odd jobs: a 3rd generation heirloom umbrella, a stained glass lampshade, even components of pinball machines! 

Volunteer Chris helps diagnose and repair the plunger switch from a fishing-themed pinball machine. 

A simple fix on a priceless family heirloom

Our special sewing and mending events are doing well too, and with the support of Buncombe County libraries we're continuing to make free sewing and mending repairs available to all.  Every job represents a special new challenge, and here too, we're fixing more than clothes.  WNC Repair Cafe volunteers are stitching stuffed animals, mending outdoor gear and even a patching a beekeeper's suit!  Stay tuned to as we'll be expanding on our schedule of sewing and mending events later this fall. 

Discussing visible mending techniques at Pack Memorial Library

Deborah was thankful to have help with mending her beekeeping gear

2023 repair events have been eclectic and fun, but upon parsing the data, a common theme has been revealed: WNC Repair Cafe is building a community with the confidence to take on repairs of their own.  

Guests are visiting our repair events for a variety of reasons: 

• 28% want to learn the skills necessary to repair
• 26% want to support sustainability initiatives
• 17% want to save money
• 14% don't know where else to go for repair
• 7% really don't want to throw their items in the landfill
• 5% show up for the community of like-minded individuals
• 3% just really love fixing things. 

Of course there's overlap here in our visitor's motivations.  Two things stick out to me: most people want to learn repair, and many people don't know where else to go.  Repair cafes are providing a space for these people to meet each other and share their mutual skills and one thing has been resoundingly clear: guests are gaining the skills necessary for repair.  Our data for 2023 events shows that 65% of those who filled out our exit surveys responded they are more confident to take on repairs on their own. 

 

Announcing Repair Events for 2023

Fall of 2022 was a nice return to well-attended, scheduled repair events. Momentum has been steadily building since the Covid-19 pandemic thanks in large part to our new hosts and collaborating partners: Buncombe County libraries and the Asheville Tool Library.  Regularly scheduled events have been requested by many of our visitors and it stands to reason that momentum will continue to build throughout 2023.  That said, I'm pleased to share that we have TEN repair events now scheduled for 2023.

The Asheville Tool library will be hosting a total of SIX general repair events on a bimonthly schedule.  

The Leicester Public Library and West Asheville Public Library, respectively, will alternate hosting FOUR Sewing and Mending repair events on a quarterly basis.   

All dates are listed on our Events page.

We recognize it's important for repair coaching to be available to new communities.  10 Events in a single year is more than we've ever done - but we're still open for more.   Please feel free to reach out if you're an event planner, non-profit, community organizer or government official and you have ideas about how WNC Repair Cafe can participate at your event. 

Thanks WNC for all your support, We're looking forward to a big year!