Return to the Repair Cafe with Jackie Carter

It is unsustainable for the earth for us to continue throwing

things away when there are alternatives.

What is repair cafe and how can you start one?

Repair cafe inspired this podcast episode with guest Jackie Carter.

in Amsterdam by Martine Postma.

And I don't know how to pronounce her name, but she started it

because she wanted to find a way to be more sustainable.

Repair cafe went global.

Jackie Carter of Moscow, Idaho opened up the first repair

cafe for the state of Idaho.

And there are ways that you can open up a cafe.

And I know that this episode will inspire you to want to do so.

Jackie Carter will share ways on just how you can do that.

We're sitting here in the beautiful Moscow library.

And this is Jackie Carter.

Hi.

Hi Jackie.

It's so exciting.

And so first off, let's kind of go backwards before we get to Repair

Cafe and find out why you became interested in a, oh, and you'll

hear the background noises of the library as they deliver books.

It's always exciting to hear the the sounds of our humankind nature.

So what got you into conservation?

Just a conscientious human, I try to do as much as I can, but

I feel like, I've never done enough.

I feel like I've never contributed that way very much.

I first heard about the Repair Cafe movement on Facebook and

I came across an article and I'd never heard of it before.

And I read it and read what it was about and I thought that's the perfect

kind of thing for this community.

Moscow is very much oriented that way.

Sustainability is a really big deal here.

We have several groups, local groups.

We have, uh, the Palouse Environmental Sustainability coalition.

And then there's also the Palouse Clearwater environmental Institute,

which is a local educational facility, just making sure that, people are

conscious about what they can do locally.

,I just thought that would be a really cool thing to do.

And I liked the idea.

I think I reposted it and I said, this is something that would

be really great here in Moscow.

And people were like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I had no idea how to implement something like that.

I'm the kind of person that throws a party and nobody comes so I could never do that.

And I wouldn't know how to get started anyway.

And then about a year later, I was at, the Pacific Northwest

library association conference.

And there was, a library, I think, from Red Deer, Alberta in Canada.

And their seminar was, how to do a repair cafe in the library.

And it occurred to me that the whole time, the answer was right underneath my feet.

I work in the library and this is the kind of thing that would go very well.

And it was nice to sit in that seminar because they talked about how they did it.

What kind of things to expect, you know, basically all of the steps

that you needed to go through

to make it work.

I was very excited about it.

And I came back and I talked to my director and she

said, I think this is great.

So they took it to our Friends of the Library group and they were

immediately very enthusiastic and on board and they gave me a budget.

That's how it started.

And so, I mean, I just kind of dove in, I didn't really know what

I was doing, but I I'm a person that kind of, I like to make lists.

So I, I have this, this book out of the moleskikn moleskin notebook

full of just lists of things.

And let's try to organize it's quite well.

It's not just repair cafe.

It's just how I live my life.

But, you know, and the best thing was that people were so

enthusiastic and so open to it, that it made it feel much easier to do.

I didn't feel like I was hitting any kind of resistance at all.

It was just, people were very open to the idea.

So it kind of went from there that

now that's, that is exciting.

And we need to get more with this podcast and you telling how you did

it maybe there are others who will be inspired to set up a repair cafe.

It's a really exciting thing.

Yes, it is.

It's uh, I think it's growing because just from what I've

seen, and patrons were coming in and saying, this is a great idea.

I love this idea.

This is such a great idea.

This needs to be happening everywhere.

On the website for Repair Cafe, A global map and you can narrow it down to the U

S and there are a lot of them in bigger cities, especially in the east and the

Northeast, not a lot out here in the west.

So, you know, there's a few in Southern California and I think, uh, a few in

Seattle, the Seattle area, but I it's something I'd like to see happen.

What was your first step to get it going aside from

going to the conference and getting the money, how much money.

So to run something like this, is it super expensive?

I mean, you don't have to give an a dollar amount.

Was it super expensive?

I don't think so, because I mean, I was given

a budget and I was all excited.

I'm like, okay, we need this and this and this.

And then I realized later that a lot of the things that I purchased

were not necessarily things

we maybe needed.

I was thinking we needed to have all the tools and it's nice to have

like a toolkit and basic tools.

But when we had our first one and people showed up, they brought their own tools.

People bring their own stuff and they were so enthusiastic and we have a, uh,

volunteer who he, he was doing the, Small appliances and electronics and he's, I

think he's an engineer and I mean, he had bags of things and just all this

stuff that he brought in every kind of specialized tool you could think of.

And he was one of the volunteers.

Yeah.

So he had everything he needed.

And so that's really exciting.

And everybody said, oh, you don't need to, I can bring that.

I have a soldering iron, I have this and this or this.

So that's the good thing about this as the volunteers, most of

them are already tinkerers and they like to do this kind of thing.

So they have, they have the basic tools.

They have the things they need.

So I guess as far as what it costs to get started, our biggest cost was the venue

because the library does not have a space big enough to host something like this.

So I had to pay for a venue and then, you know, little, little things here and there

we did, I did invest in a lot of different types of like glues and adhesives and

things like that because I want us to have

a station where people can go.

everybody has that one item at home that needs a special glue,

but they don't want to go out and buy it just for this one thing.

So they can bring this in and it can be, they can get it glued.

It's free to the public.

They can come in and bring a broken item.

There's there will be someone there, hopefully that has the knowledge

and the skills to repair it..

Also, we want the visitors to learn how to repair things themselves

so that they can start to think about their belongings differently.

Like, you know, this isn't something I just toss away

it's it can probably be fixed.

There are resources out there, and most people we've

gotten away from that mindset.

The common mindset now is, and I think we've been driven into this idea that

you buy something and it's only supposed to last a couple of years, and then

you just get the newest model, and that benefits the manufacturers,

but it costs us money and it

fills up landfills and it causes problems for the environment.

We're, we're battling that all the time, trying to get people past that

and to just realize that there's another alternative out there.

We have the repair cafe, we know what the repair part is.

So what's the cafe?

It's literally just a place, a little corner or a table

that, people can sit and have a cup of coffee or a cup of tea or.

Uh, a cookie, something like that.

And there's a reading table.

That's where the library comes in handy because I can bring books from

the library on repair and how to repair different types of items.

They can sit and they can look at books and they can sip their coffee

and relax maybe while they're waiting to get their item repaired, or maybe

there's something else they have at home that they want to know how to fix

so they can just peruse the librarian.

I have amazing coworkers and one of them she's like, I don't know

how to fix anything, but I'm really good at rallying the troops.

So she has recruited everybody else.

Okay, you need to bake two dozen cookies.

And so they, they bring them all.

And so there's enough for everybody to eat and what we had left over

last time, we sent home with volunteers, so, it's a bonus.

Oh, that's nice.

That is a nice bonus.

So you, you had to get a budget, a venue.

And then how did you advertise for volunteers?

That's.

Interesting because this is a small community and I've lived here forever

and you just, you know, people and, you know people who know people.

So I started making phone calls and saying, Hey, I

know, you know how to do this.

Do you think you could help me out?

And people were like, yeah, I can do that.

My coworkers were amazing.

There's a someone here today who he's a retired veterinarian and he

just took a part-time job working at the library because he wanted

to do something and give back.

Yeah.

And it turns out that he is also pretty good at fixing electrical things.

So he's like, we're gonna help you out.

Yeah.

And then the first article came out in the paper and one of my friends

posted it on Facebook and one of her friends immediately said, I want

in on this, I love to fix things.

How can I get involved in this?

And it's just been like that kind of thing.

My husband, he can fix most things.

So he goes kind of from place to place.

And then one of his coworkers, he works at the university.

He fixes furniture.

So he's going to help out with that.

Oh so people

might bring their furniture in the back of their truck.

Yeah, hopefully.

So, all right.

So then you gathered volunteers and

And so I guess what I was trying to say with the

budget is I don't think you really need that much to get started.

If you go through repair cafe, because there are other programs out there

that are similar, I decided to use the, the repair cafe model because you can

purchase a, a digital kit from them

, you can download all of their materials that tell you how to

get started and how to do this.

And you have access to the logo and all the signs and everything.

It's branded.

And I really liked the model.

I liked the way that they did it.

And the conference that I attended was also about actual repair cafe,

but there are other, other models and programs out there that people can do.

So it's, I mean, it's really it's.

It just depends.

So I think if you lived in a community where you, had a place to do this.

I know some places in California have done them outside during the summer.

Really.

It's not going to be much of a cost other than.

And the fun part is you get

materials.

So it becomes social also.

Yeah.

And especially in this town, it seems like everybody knows

everybody else, at least by sight.

And, uh, that was the fun thing about the, the first repair cafe.

I don't think there was a person that walked in the

door that I didn't recognize.

I mean, it wasn't huge.

We didn't have a lot of people for the first one.

It wasn't a.

I attended, but it was a star.

It takes time.

I kind of purposely kept it that way for the first one, because I just,

it was our first one and I wanted to kind of feel things out and kind of,

it was sort of a test run, really.

So kind of work out the glitches and see what to expect..

The response has been really amazing.

We've added the furniture.

Small appliances.

Small electronics.

And then we have a clothing and textile, which I think is

always going to be popular.

People always have, you know, there are people who don't know

how to sew on a button, right?

Zippers and things that need to be patched and hemmed.

And, and then if people can bring in socks that need to be darned

nobody darns socks anymore.

It's like throw them away and buy a new pair.

A knife and scissors sharpening station.

Do they have sewing machines?

They do.

, one of my volunteers for the clothing and textile station she

owns a local alteration shop.

And she was very enthusiastic about doing this.

She said she does things like this occasionally like at the university,

you know, clinics, showing people how to fix their own things.

So she, she came and she has like this amazing kit that's just got every

kind of thing you would need to like.

Zippers and all kinds of things that she can replace or snaps and things like that.

And she has a sewing machine and then we borrowed an extra sewing machine

from the high school, you know, volunteers show up with things like that.

It's so wonderful that you have this workforce of volunteers.

I am kind of bowled over by the support and the

enthusiasm that I've encountered.

Just my coworkers alone, but the community and my volunteers have been amazing.

I can't believe people are willing to give up that much of their free

time and say, yes, I want to do this.

And they're really excited about it.

It is wonderful.

And it's there and it's their positive imprint.

Right?

Exactly.

And that's their way of, giving back and sharing their knowledge.

One resource that I would like to tap for volunteers.

Maybe the retirement community.

You have that, oh yes.

People who, a lot of them maybe have those skills, I mean, maybe they weren't

a repair person before, but they knew how to fix a lamp or a vacuum cleaner

or whatever, because they, oh yeah.

That's something they just did.

And they have that knowledge that they can, they can share it

and they have the time to do it.

And probably the enthusiasm.

Sure.

You already have this from the wonderful community.

When you buy the kit repair cafe repair cafe, do you have any networking or

communication with anybody or you just buy the kit and you're on your own only.

You get put on their map so people can go to their website.

Right after we had our first event, there was an article that I wrote

in the paper for the library column.

And then when we had our event, we had a reporter show up a

reporter and a photographer.

And so there was an article in the paper and I heard from other libraries,

one in Southern Idaho, one in Texas, and they said, we want to do this.

How do we get started?

And so I wrote up this sort of a guideline well, yeah, sort of a.

Yeah, I don't know.

I kind of threw it together at the last minute, but I've sent it out several

times telling people, this is what I did.

This is how I found my volunteers.

This is how I got started.

This might work for you.

This is what didn't work.

This is what did work.

This is what I would do differently.

And I'm hoping for more of that.

These were both libraries that I heard from there was a third place

in Canada that, uh, also contacted me, but I don't think they were a library.

I want people to know that they don't have to be associated

with the library to do this.

Anyone can start one of these.

This just happened to be the path that I took because it worked for me.

Most of them, in fact, I think are just, private citizens who

just say, Hey, we need to do this.

I think this is a great idea.

I think this is, this is wonderful.

I would really like it to be widespread and become more widespread.

Yeah.

Right.

The, the example I like to give.

And this won't mean anything to anybody who's probably under 40,

but there used to be the Maytag commercials with their Maytag repairman.

And he was lonely because, because the, uh, the washing machines and

dryers were so well-made and they were so reliable that he never got

called out to help to fix anything.

They don't show those anymore because I think 40, 50 years ago,

Manufacturers had a lot of pride in how well-made their items were and

how this will last you your lifetime.

And it's not like that anymore.

It's more to their financial benefit that something breaks down in a couple of years

and you replace it and buy a new one.

And, it's frustrating for consumers.

This has been going on so long that we've just kind of been pushed into this.

That's just the way it is.

Oh yeah.

It's broken.

I, I have to get a new one.

One thing that, I keep thinking about is my my mother-in-law's toaster.

She passed away.

And, the family gathered to get her house ready to sell and going

through the belongings and everything.

She had this ancient toaster, this little Chrome probably weighed a lot.

Yeah.

Heavy duty.

And it still makes perfect toast after 40 years, I think it was from

the seventies and I've thrown away three toasters in the last 10 years.

And everybody's like, I want the toaster, I want the toaster.

That's a great toaster.

Nothing that we own right now my kids are going to say, I want that

because it's lasted my whole lifetime.

Things aren't made to last.

It would be nice if people could get away from that, that idea,

that things should last longer.

And I think that's part of what the, the right to repair movement is about.

I so much appreciate you taking your time for doing this.

Yeah.

Good for you that you read the little piece on your Facebook and ran after

the repair cafe, because you are the only one in Idaho at this time, and

hopefully others will follow suit.

So Jackie.

Thank you for your positive imprint.

Thank you.

Break your throwaway habit, grab some friends and start

a repair cafe anywhere in the world.

Repair cafe.org.

And for this podcast, your positive imprint please remember to leave

positive reviews next week.

Learn more about the right to repair movement.

Your positive imprint.com.

Your positive imprint.