Elisa Kersley and Helen Howard are the brains behind the Napier Repair Cafe. Pictured here with Howard's kids Frederick Hakkaart, 9, and Miles Hakkaart, 7. Photo / Paul Taylor
Elisa Kersley and Helen Howard are the brains behind the Napier Repair Cafe. Pictured here with Howard's kids Frederick Hakkaart, 9, and Miles Hakkaart, 7. Photo / Paul Taylor
Don't take your ovens, cars, or big broken appliances to the pop-up Napier Repair Cafe, you will be politely asked to take them back.
Smaller appliances, however, will be well-received.
Co-founder of the cafe HelenHoward, from Sustainable Napier, said the idea behind the repair cafe came about after she saw similar cafes in Auckland.
"I had heard of them before, and seen similar ones in Auckland, so my friend and fellow co-founder Elisa Kersley, and I did a bit of research and came up with the idea of a repair cafe in Napier," Howard said.
"We are doing it for environmental reasons so items don't end up in landfill if they can be repaired."
A repair cafe is an event where members of the public bring in their household items for repair by a team of dedicated volunteers in exchange for a koha, she said.
"The idea is to make community connections, and also pass on knowledge so people can learn how to do basic repairs to a range of items," Howard said.
"We want people to hang around, talk and we want people to know that we are not a dumping ground for unwanted appliances.
"We want to change the 'throwaway' mentality. We want people to value their possessions instead of rushing out to get a new one, if the old one is broken.
"We are also hoping to educate people about the impact of dumping unwanted appliances in the landfill."
Clothes will be re-sown at the Napier Repair Cafe. Photo / UNSPLASH/ Jelle van Leest
She said people were more than welcome to bring their old jewellery, toys, household furniture, clothes, textiles, bicycles.
"There will be people there with sewing machines, people hand sewing, jewellery repairers. We will repair what we can," she said.
"But if someone brings in their ovens, or bigger household appliances we will be asking them to take them back, because those are jobs for specialists."
There will be tea, coffee, and home baking available in exchange for a koha, and a tamariki zone where children can play while their parents/caregivers get their items repaired.
Currently Sustainable Napier is doing a call out to recruit volunteers with the following skills: registered electricians, sewers (hand and machine sewers), bicycle repairers, general DIY and "fix-it" men and women, furniture repairers, jewellery repairers, bakers to bake some sweet treats for volunteers and members of the public and enthusiastic people who would like to assist on the day.
"We are just a couple of mums and we are calling for volunteers who can help out."