MANNA GUM COMMUNITY HOUSE JOINS THE WAR ON WASTE
What do you do with a broken toaster? Or with a sweater full of moth holes? Toss it? No way! Manna Gum Community House is organising a Repair Café in Foster on Saturday March 14th.
At Manna Gum Community House on Saturday 14 March everything centres on making repairs. Starting from 10am and ending at 1pm, various volunteer repair experts will be available to help make all possible repairs free of charge. Tools and materials will also be on hand. People visiting the Repair Café will bring along their broken items from home. Toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, bikes, toys, crockery… anything that is broken is welcome.
By promoting repairs, Manna Gum Community House wants to help reduce mountains of waste. This is absolutely necessary, according to Manager, Rebecca Matthews. “We throw away piles of stuff in Australia. Even things which practically have nothing wrong with them, and which could easily be used again after a simple repair. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can have things repaired. Repair Café wants to change all that.”
“This is the first time we have run this event at Manna Gum. I have received a number of requests from community members to make this a regular part of our program, and we know that there are a lot of local people who are looking for ways to reduce their consumption and live more sustainably. We are still seeking volunteers to support this event, in particular people who can sew or can fix bikes and electrical items. We are also seeking donations from the community for consumables such as cottons and glues that will support this event.”
Repair Café is also meant to put neighbours in touch with each other in a new way. And to discover that a lot of know-how and practical skills can be found close to home. Rebecca Matthews: “If you repair a bike, a CD player or a pair of trousers together with a previously unfamiliar neighbour, you look at that person in a different light the next time you run into them on the street. The event is as much about social connection as it is about environmental sustainability.
Rebecca points out that repairs can save money and resources, and can help minimise CO2 emissions. “But above all, Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is.”
More information about consumables donations
More information about volunteering
The Repair Café concept arose in the Netherlands, in 2009, and was formulated by Martine Postma, at the time an Amsterdam-bases journalist/publicist. In 2010, she started the Repair Café Foundation. This foundation provides support to local groups around the world wishing to start their own Repair Café. The foundation also supports the Repair Café in Foster
Manna Gum Community House 