Open a Repair Café

What you need

• Public tables and bright lighting
• Safety glasses, mats, hand tools
• Intake forms and item tags
• Skilled volunteers by category
• Clear exclusions and parts policy

Do it, step by step

1. Choose narrow stations

   Start with clothing, bicycles, furniture, and low-voltage electronics. Exclude mains electricity, gas, weapons, and hazards.

2. Recruit repair coaches

   Ask what volunteers can safely teach, not merely fix. Record their limits.

3. Use intake triage

   Identify item, symptom, owner, hazards, data/privacy, and whether it is accepted.

4. Keep owners at the table

   The owner watches, helps, and learns. The coach narrates diagnosis and safe tool use.

5. Label outcomes honestly

   Fixed, improved, diagnosed, parts needed, or not safe to repair. Diagnosis is useful.

6. Capture reusable learning

   Record model, symptom, cause, and solution without personal data. Turn recurring fixes into guides.

7. Close with accountability

   Inventory tools, isolate damaged batteries, clean stations, and record near misses.

Copy-and-use template

ITEM INTAKE
Item/symptom: ______
Known hazards or stored data: ______
Station: ______
Outcome: FIXED / IMPROVED / DIAGNOSED / DECLINED
What the owner learned: ______
Parts or next step: ______