Repair Cafes are a worldwide movement, gaining in popularity each year as people try to reduce waste being sent to landfill and repair damaged household items.
Locals turned out in force again for the 2024 Winter Repair Café run by Friends of the Farm at the Mangere Bridge Library. The usual Saturday morning library traffic doubled as people arrived seeking help from the local electricians, bike repairer, sewing and IT experts and others. The local knife sharpeners collected a record number of knives and garden tools for sharpening and there was a record number of books handed in for mending. Overall the Repair Café was a great success.
An extra attraction was free bottles of Fertify garden fertilizer made available for keen gardeners to collect. This is one of the by-products at the Ecogas Reporoa Organics Processing Facility that processes Auckland’s food scraps. The other by-product is biogas which is used for heating and electricity generation within the facility with excess electricity being injected back into the national grid. Friends of the Farm have been diligent supporters of the Food Scraps collection service since its introduction and continue to promote it.
“You always get back more than you give”
We wondered, why do skilled locals volunteer their Saturday mornings to diagnose faults and mend household items? We asked them and there was a common theme of wanting to help people, to reduce waste, and move away from the throw-away society. Others mentioned a family tradition of giving back to their community through service. Some said they enjoyed talking to people and learned something every time. Diagnosing problems and advising where to find spare parts, or passing on knowledge of how to darn a ripped sleeve or glue back a handle were also mentioned as motivation for volunteering. “You always get back more than you give,” said one and another, “Do good for your community and your community will do good for you”. Whatever their reasons, their hard work on a Saturday morning greatly benefits their community.
