Repair Cafe 2026 Recap

On Saturday September 19th, the Convent Glen Orleans Wood Environment Committee hosted its annual Repair Cafe, where community members could bring their broken household items and have them fixed by local volunteer repairers, for free.

This year’s event was another huge success. A big thank you to all the amazing volunteers who volunteered their time and skills in this year’s Repair Cafe. Thanks also to everyone who came out and brought their items to be repaired — you helped keep everyday items out of the landfill.

This year we had a record 75 people come to our event. It was truly incredible to see all the activity, interaction and learning. 

Here’s what you brought in to be fixed by our incredible team of repairers:

• 13 bikes and one scooter
• 5 laptops and 1 cellphone
• 29 items to be sewn
• 5 sewing machines to be serviced. In addition, 3 sewing machines were donated and all 3 will be serviced by one of our volunteers and returned to the community
• 25 people brought in knives to be sharpened
• 40 household items like small appliances, toys and small wooden furniture

This annual event could not be possible without the incredible support and generosity from the Orleans United Church, where the event is held annually. We are so very grateful to have them partner with us every year. 

In addition to all the talented members of our community who volunteered, we also want to thank Mary’s Bakery for donating her homemade cookies. They were hugely appreciated and delicious.

This year the sewing team was particularly busy, especially with all the sewing machines that were brought in to be serviced. To keep up with the high volume, many of the residents who brought in clothing and other textiles ended up being taught how to sew the items themselves. This allowed more items to be repaired than otherwise possible and it transferred useful knowledge from our sewists to other members of the community. This knowledge transfer is an important element of all Repair Cafes.

Meike Woehlert of the City of Ottawa’s Solid Waste Services team also came to the event. As far as Meike knows, Convent Glen Orleans Wood is the only community in the City to host their own Repair Cafes. Other Repair Cafes in the City are all put on with the help of the Ottawa Tool Library. The City is very interested in how we are able to make our Repair Cafes so successful and wants to share what we do with other communities across the city. What we know is that the keys to our success are the generous support of the Orleans United Church and, of course, all of the capable volunteer fixers who are willing to donate their time. We truly are fortunate.

Thank you for keeping all these repairable items from ending up in our landfills.

Look for this popular event again in 2027, get notified when it’s here by following the Convent Glen Orleans Wood Community Association Environment Committee Facebook page!