BLACK DIAMOND — Volunteers are rolling up their sleeves to fix damaged and broken household items in another repair café event.
The Black Diamond Sustainability Advisory Committee will host its fourth repair café where volunteers assist citizens in fixing torn or broken clothing, furniture, electronic appliances, toys and bicycles at the Griffiths Senior Centre Feb. 29 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Each event connects about 30 people with broken household items with volunteers eager to get out their tools to do what they can to help, said Dusty Williams, a member of the repair café subcommittee.
“It’s to indicate to the community that they can fix most of what’s in their homes rather than ship parts in from who knows where or throw them out,” he said. “There are people asking when the next one is, which is what we wanted.”
A 3D printer will be on site to make small plastic parts that are missing or need replacing, said Williams.
“This way we can create stuff from recycled materials such as plastic out of the recycle centre and repair appliances and furniture and what not,” he said. “Then you’re bringing the cost of each items to what is called a zero marginal cost rather than ship things at a very high cost factor.”
Assisting with the event for the first time is Black Diamond business owner Colin Fleming, who volunteered to patch tires and make adjustments on bicycles.
“I’m pretty excited,” he said, adding it’s his first opportunity to assist with the event. “The first repair café was the opening day for my shop and the second was right after I had shoulder surgery.”
Fleming owns Rollick Co., an outdoor store he opened in his Black Diamond home last spring shortly after moving to town.
In March 2019, he took a University of Calgary course to learn how to fix bicycles and, since moving to Black Diamond, has volunteered at the Turner Valley School and C. Ian McLaren Elementary School bike rodeos.
“Something that’s really important to my family is being active and seeing people out and about,” he said. “We would like to be able to help out where we can.”
