For the first time, AOR partnered with Repair PDX to hold a Repair Café as part of the annual Sustainable Oregon conference. The Repair Café was open to conference attendees and the public. Out of the 28 people who brought items to be fixed, about half were conference attendees. Repair volunteers worked on a variety of items such as coffee makers, fans, clocks, lamps, vacuums, shirts, pants, bags and bikes, successfully mending and repairing 85% of the items they tackled – a truly impressive fix rate!

Repair PDX has been holding Repair Cafes in Portland for the past three years, fixing items for over 1,000 local residents and spreading repair culture throughout the metro area. Repair Fairs started up in Washington County about a year ago, and recently in surrounding Gresham and West Linn, plus White Salmon, Washington. If you want to volunteer at an event, contact repairpdx@gmail.com or repairfairoregon@gmail.com.

Repair PDX’s next event takes place July 6, from 6-8pm at Rosewood Initiative, a community center in East Multnomah County. For details about this event and others in the metro area, check the events calendar at repairpdx.org. You can also connect through Facebook at repairpdx and repairfair. If you live outside the Portland metro area, Repair PDX organizers are happy to discuss how to start your own events. Contact them at repairpdx@gmail.com.

Repair PDX thanks AOR for inviting us to participate as the grand finale of the conference’s first reuse track. All the Repair PDX’s volunteers are honored that we helped conference attendees get their junk fixed!