Alex House<\/a>, the event brought together volunteers, fixers and curious community members for an afternoon focused on sustainability, education and connection.<\/p>\nThe milestone item \u2013 a vintage 1950s toaster \u2013 drew plenty of attention from caf\u00e9 guests and repair caf\u00e9 volunteers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had no levers, and when you placed toast in it, it slowly lowered,\u201d a repair caf\u00e9 organizer, Gillian Roberts said. \u201cWhen the toast was ready, it slowly rose back up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The toaster is the 1,000th item repaired by the caf\u00e9 and it belonged to first-time attendee Debra.<\/p>\n
Roberts shared that the very thrilled customer even received a gift certificate for bringing in the 1,000th item.<\/p>\n
This Earth Day event also featured a nearby \u201cFrock Swap\u201d hosted by the White Rock South Surrey Climate Corps, giving attendees another way to participate in sustainable practices by trading gently used clothing.<\/p>\n
The Repair Caf\u00e9 in South Surrey was first launched on Earth Day in 2019. It is part of a global movement aimed at reducing waste and encouraging people to rethink how they use and dispose of everyday items.<\/p>\n
Roberts explained that the initiative was inspired by similar caf\u00e9s around the world, with thousands now operating internationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe not only have people bringing their items to fix, but they have to stay with the item and watch it be fixed,\u201d said Roberts, noting that customers have the option to let the volunteers fix the item or learn how to fix it themselves.<\/p>\n
Roberts says fixing broken items is important but education is at the core of what they do.<\/p>\n
\u201cA big part of the Repair Caf\u00e9 is helping people understand the nature of what they\u2019ve brought in,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Roberts notes that sometimes things are built in such a way that they can\u2019t be taken apart without being destroyed, which is why she strongly believes in the growing movement of advocating towards products being designed with repairability in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn many countries, people still fix things, but in Canada, not so much,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cPeople have been taught to just throw things away, but often they can be fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts says that the Repair Caf\u00e9 continues to grow, with a diverse group of volunteers ranging from teenagers to seniors, each bringing unique skills and experiences.<\/p>\n
Beyond repairs, Roberts emphasized the strong sense of community the Caf\u00e9 fosters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of reasons to come,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can meet your neighbours, you can volunteer or donate to help us keep going, as well as bring your stuff to be fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts adds that it can be expensive to get items fixed elsewhere and it can take time to be repaired or sometimes they cannot be mended.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you can do it yourself and invest your time, then you save yourself some money and some heartache.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts also states that many volunteers are drawn in simply by seeing the excitement from attendees and volunteers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole thing is very exciting. I go to the Caf\u00e9 and people often want to volunteer because they see the excitement on the day,\u201d shared Roberts.<\/p>\n
With this milestone now in the books, Repair Caf\u00e9 organizers hope to continue their efforts and hit many more milestones along the way.<\/p>\n
Learn more about the South Surrey White Rock Repair Caf\u00e9 at www.repaircafe.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Surrey Repair Caf\u00e9 celebrates 2 milestones at Earth Day event Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, April 28, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,163792,87674],"class_list":["post-635024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-lower-mainland","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}