Nith Valley Ecoboosters to host second Repair Café Jan. 31 in New Hamburg

Ashley Ropp carefully repairs an antique crocheted window dressing handcrafted by Denise Gingerich’s grandmother at the Nith Valley Ecoboosters’ first Repair Café Nov. 1, 2025. Diane Danen photo

Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

After the success of its first Repair Café last November, New Hamburg based environmental group the Nith Valley Ecoboosters (NVEB) will host a second iteration of the event that will once again offer locals a chance at giving their broken items a chance at new life.

Planned for Jan. 31 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the fellowship hall at Zion United Church in New Hamburg, the Repair Café is an event where community members can bring broken appliances and items, and volunteer “fixers” will walk them through repairing them. The NVEB’s Repair Café will have fixers for small household mechanical and woodworking repairs, mending for clothing, knit and crochet items, jewelry and book repairs.

“(The first one) went pretty well, in my opinion,” said Repair Café organizer Ashley Ropp. “We were a little worried not a lot of people would show up, but we actually had a pretty good turnout. We had a lot of people came from Kitchener, so coming a fair distance to be a part of this, and that was really encouraging that people actually want this and will come to these events, and people got something out of it.

“Seeing that people can actually get something out of it and people care about it, we thought, ‘Okay, we’re definitely going to do another one.’ ”

While those who attended the last Repair Café may have done so to avoid having to buy something new by having something old and broken repaired, or to have a treasured family heirloom or keepsake fixed, the Ecoboosters and their volunteer fixers also had the opportunity to share important environmental messaging around sustainable living and keeping household items and other goods out of landfill by extending their useful lifespans.

“I was doing crocheting and knitting repairs,” Ropp said. “I had one woman bring in a family heirloom; it was something her grandma or great grandma had made long, long ago. So, it was a very sentimental thing that was breaking … and I got to fix that. So, people could get to keep these things that are important to their family, and that’s really important, and then other people got more practical things fixed like an old pair of socks.

“ … And then we got to be around people and talk about what these kinds of events mean to us and see these different perspectives on sustainability and community and just being with people who care about similar things and get their take on it.”

While the fixers at the Repair Café are limited to what they can fix in under half an hour to ensure everyone has the opportunity to have their items repaired, they will recommend local professionals and businesses who can fix their items if a repair is expected to take longer than that.

Currently, the Ecoboosters are looking for even more fixers to help with this event. Specifically, they need a licensed electrician on hand to ensure any repairs to electronic devices are done in accordance with all safety standards.

For more information about this free, drop-in event or to volunteer as a fixer, email nvebrepaircafe@gmail.com.