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Using local skills to keep treasures out of landfill

  • Repair Cafe Aotearoa Handbook | Launch 24 May 2023

      29 May 2023
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    Repair Café Aotearoa New Zealand (RCANZ) launched their first Repair Café Aotearoa Handbook on 24 May.

    This handbook, which is a living document, offers a wealth of community experience. You will find guides and practical ideas in this handbook, including a ‘Volunteer Kit’ as well as the Repair Café Forms Pack, and information on how to join the restarters, the online tool that Repair Cafés worldwide use to collect data are all available for a donation on our other GiveaLittle page:

    'Want to set up a repair cafe in your own neighbourhood? https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/want-to-set-up-a-repair-cafe-in-your-neighbourhood

    If you are keen to set up your own repair cafe in your community, send us an email to nzrepaircafeinfo@gmail.com and we'd be happy to help :)

    If you are keen to volunteer at a repair cafe, please fill in the Google Form on our 'Volunteers' sub-page, and we'll be in touch. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScvjo7msen_u12GpiUu_yRRDE8zXGwfs_2qmqRp-L-J3Ek0qA/viewform

    We look forward to hearing from you and meeting you in the Aotearoa Community Repair Space soon.

    The RCANZ Team

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  • Our hearts and thoughts are with the Napier Repair Café community

      23 February 2023
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    This weekend would have been the first time for the Napier Repair Café to open its doors again this year. Our hearts go out to the 30+ volunteers who so generously have given their repair skills and time to help their community fix their damaged belongings over the past 9 months. Many of these wonderful people, their families, neighbours and friends have been affected by cyclone Gabrielle during the past week and need time to recover, process the trauma of loss and devastation, and find ways of restoring their community.

    Helen Howard has been running the Napier Repair Café which is a monthly event at Asher Hall since June 2022. It has been very well attended and supported by the Napier Community, and she is looking forward to continuing to run it from March 25th 2023. It is important now more than ever before to bring the community together and build resilience for the future.

    Repair Café Aotearoa NZ Board decided to donate NZ$500 from the GiveaLittle Crowdfunding campaign that so many people contributed to last year with the intention of assisting Napier repair café volunteers and their wider community. The donation was made to the Hawkes Bay Flood Relief Fund, which supports locals with basic supplies such as food, clothing and shelter etc. Thinking of all affected by cyclone Gabrielle.

    N.B. If you can support in any way, below are links to the

    Hawkes Bay Flood Relief Fund

    https://public-hbrc.datacomsphere.co.nz/online-services/new/flood-fund-relief/step/1

    Napier Repair Café facebook page with Sustainable Napier

    https://www.facebook.com/sustainablenapier/

    Repair Café Aotearoa NZ www.repaircafeaotearoa.co.nz |

    E: nzrepaircafeinfo@gmail.com

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  • Gifts of Repair for our Repair Cafés

      8 December 2022
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    It is this time of year that we look back with amazement on how we did it all!

    So, we thought of what better way of thanking our awesome repair cafés here in Aotearoa than with a little ‘Gift of Repair’ for all the amazing mahi they have done over this year. 196 repair cafés associated with RCANZ took place with an average of 74% of repairs completed due to the dedication and diligence of volunteer repairers!

    Now, repairing things requires adequate tools. Right?! As an avid #Right to Repair campaigner, you will know that it can be tricky to access devices which are designed to have just this one little screw that can only be turned with a special screwdriver.

    Fortunately, Repair Café Aotearoa NZ has been able to extend its networks to the awesome IFixit community in the United States. These wonderful leaders in the #Right to Repair movement donated a whole bunch of electronic tool kits to us! To be able to send a gift to each of the 35 repair café coordinators, we added a few more locally created darning mushrooms made from recycled timber, and some cool useful tool sets such as ratcheting drivers with bit sets and precision screwdrivers sets- accessing some of the funds donated toward repair cafes during our Crowdfunding campaign in September https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/local-skills-keep-treasures-out-of-landfill

    Repair Café Aotearoa NZ will continue the mahi on the ground and in the Right to Repair space next year, and we’ll keep you updated with any news of our campaign to make change.

    If you’d like to support our currently not-funded organization, we do have a Givealittle page where you can donate. Thank you. https://givealittle.co.nz/org/repair-cafe-aotearoa-nz

    Wishing you all a wonderful time to relax, recharge and enjoy some summertime. See you in the New Year!

    The RCANZ Team

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  • New Repair Café in Kaikoke (the Far North)

      6 December 2022
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    Our first story about how a Repair Café made good use of the generous donations received during the Repair Café Aoteraoa NZ crowdfunding campaign on Givealittle last September ... is HERE!

    Recently, a wonderful group of fixers in the Far North, who ran the Paihia Repair Café relocated to Kaikohe. They were invited to host their repair events at the local historic Pioneer Village. What a wonderful place of history, refurbished items and now community repair has been added!

    The only thing that was missing to complete this perfect set up was decent shelving to accommodate all the repair tools, machinery and paraphernalia. So, Paul van der Water, the main repair café organiser and a builder by trade who’s been involved in the movement for many years, took initiative. He sketched the shelving, got a quote for building materials and applied to RCANZ for a grant to cover costs. Labour was paid in time through Taitokerau Timebank (Kaikohe Branch); someone created the new signage, and on Saturday, 26th November, the first Repair Café in Kaikohe took place. It was a great success with many repairs and everything went smoothly. The photos reflect the repair café spirit!

    The plan is to run regular repair cafés at the Pioneer Village venue; keep an eye out on our Facebook event page https://www.facebook.com/RepairCafeNZ/events/

    Keen to volunteer at the Kaikohe Repair Café, please contact barbara.tttimebank@gmail.com

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  • Together, we raised almost $11,000! | Join us on International Repair Day for our ONLINE event: ‘The Repair Show’!

      30 September 2022
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    Kia ora friends of Repair Cafés,

    By midnight last night, our Crowdfunding Campaign had reached a whopping $10,778! Even after raising our goal from $5,000 to $7,500, we well exceeded this- and we cannot thank you enough for your generous donations and encouragement.

    We would love to invite you all, wonderful donors, to our annual online event held on International Repair Day, Saturday 15 October 2022. Our theme this year is: ‘The Repair Show’! This is the perfect opportunity to learn more about what RCANZ does, and the movement you are contributing to.

    🛠 Join Repair Café Aotearoa NZ and our partners to learn how you can be part of this growing movement

    🛠 Find out about special Repair Café projects and how they benefit their community

    🛠 Watch our volunteer repairers in action at in-person Repair Café events livestreaming on the day in different parts of the motu

    We will also be celebrating the support you have contributed to our Repair Café communities and how this will empower them to grow the amazing work they do. We can’t wait to see you there! 😄 https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/the-repair-show-international-repair-day-2022-repair-cafe-aotearoa-nz-tickets-399884955667?

    fbclid=IwAR1BKp7DUjNkHWCqiynMRvy9ngvJYrE_qJXj2sHZ8sb2e0-x5lnP4P8EHX8

    Want to keep up with how these funds are being spent? We will continue to send periodic updates directly to your inbox when we utilize these funds, so you will be first to know! If you would like to keep in touch with us otherwise, check out our platforms below:

    Facebook: www.facebook.com/repaircafenz

    Instagram: www.instagram.com/repaircafenz

    Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/repair-caf%C3%A9-aotearoa-nz-8b8095250/

    Blog: www.repaircafeaotearoa.co.nz/blog

    Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hAkw_T

    Thank you for joining this community if you are new here, and we hope you will stick around for all there is to learn, connect and repair here in Aotearoa.

    Toss it, no way! Fix it, today!

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  • Countdown until midnight tonight ⏰

      29 September 2022
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    There is only A FEW HOURS LEFT to donate and share our Givealittle Campaign! ⏰⏰

    If you haven’t donated yet, and would like to, there is still time to chip in! Our campaign CLOSES at MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!

    https://givealittle.co.nz/.../local-skills-keep-treasures...

    Givealittle, Fix a little! Give a lot, Fix a lot!

    Thank you so much to our over 200 generous donors- your support and encouraging comments inspire us at Repair Café Aotearoa NZ. Be sure to maximise the impact of your donation by SHARING the campaign to your friends and family!

    Your donation will help us to provide more specialist tools, storage and promotional resources for repair cafés, and help the repair café movement to grow across Aotearoa New Zealand. NOW is your chance to make a difference in Aotearoa’s journey toward the circular economy. Become a Repair Champion- show your support before MIDNIGHT TONIGHT!

    https://givealittle.co.nz/.../local-skills-keep-treasures...

    #repaircafeaotearoa #repaircafenz #circulareconomy #zerowaste #community #generositygenerator #crowdfunding #givealittle #tossitnoway #thefundingnetwork

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  • Repair Galore ... and so much more ... 🛠

      27 September 2022
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    Repair Galore 🛠 – Last weekend was a celebration of repair cafés across the country. Yes, six repair cafés were open from right up North in KAITAIA to way down South in HĀWERA and in between * LAUNCHING repair cafés in TAURANGA and PALMERSTON NORTH * as well as the super cool monthly repair cafés in NAPIER and BLENHEIM

    It's all about communities coming together, repairing, sharing and caring!

    More detail to follow soon – Keep an eye on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RepairCafeNZ/

    or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/repaircafenz/?hl=en

    or go to our blog on our website https://www.repaircafeaotearoa.co.nz/blog

    Thanks for being awesome and into the spirit of repairing and caring.

    Not long to go now, so, there's still a chance to SHARE and for your friends to DONATE toward keeping and growing repair cafés in our local communities.

    “Give a little. Fix a little!” – “Give a lot. Fix a lot!”

    https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/local-skills-keep-treasures-out-of-landfill

    Stay tuned for more updates to see what your support does for our repair communities in Aotearoa!

    #repaircafeaotearoa #circular economy #community #crowdfunding

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  • Napier Repair Café rocks! - Fix more! Waste Less!

      24 September 2022
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    Kia ora friends of Repair Café Aotearoa,

    Hope you all had a nice long weekend :) Here’s a quick update from us with the exciting news that we had six (!) repair cafés associated with RCANZ open this weekend!

    Also, a big thank you to everyone who donated toward our new goal of $7,500, which will allow us to do so much more for our local Repair Cafés.

    Repair Café Aotearoa NZ empowers local Repair Cafés with set-up support, resources, online platforming, community connection and more, so they can focus on what they do best- repairing!

    One of the local repair cafés happening this weekend was in Napier, organized by the wonderful Helen Howard and her team from Sustainable Napier. Champions! 👏🛠🌿

    22 awesome volunteers, including the bakers of delicious food came together and there was a lot of activity. The 24 volunteer repairers were able to fix 26 items out of the 41 items brought in. The replacement value of those items would have been $1,150!

    Check out these great photos of happy Repair Café activities on the Sustainable Napier Repair Café Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/sustainablenapier/

    There are 3 days left to DONATE AND SHARE! Increase the impact of your donation by sharing to your friends, family and networks:

    https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/local-skills-keep-treasures-out-of-landfill

    Stay tuned for more updates to see what your support does for our repair communities!

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  • Power to community repair!

      22 September 2022
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    We are halfway through the campaign and almost reached our goal of $5,000 with 119 generous donors! WOW! Power to community repair! We’ve set our new goal for $7,500, which will allow us to do so much more for our local Repair Cafés.

    Your donation will help is us to provide more specialist tools, storage and promotional resources for repair cafés, and help the repair café movement to grow across Aotearoa New Zealand.

    Repair Café Aotearoa NZ empowers local Repair Cafes with set-up support, resources, online platforming, community connection and more, so they can focus on what they do best- repairing!

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  • Christchurch Repair Riverlution | What you can fix in 2 hours after work as a repair community!

      21 September 2022
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    Kia ora ano friends of Repair Cafés,

    We are halfway through the campaign and almost reached our initial goal of $5,000 with 119 generous donors! A huge big thank you to all who donated!! You can still donate to get repair even more into our communities.

    Repair Café Aotearoa NZ empowers local Repair Cafes with set-up support, resources, online platforming, community connection and more, so they can focus on what they do best- repairing!

    Last Tuesday, the Christchurch Repair Riverlution held their monthly Repair Café at the Richmond Community Center. The wonderful volunteers were Alan Liefting, Aidas Janulis, Thomas Gilchrist, Just-Be Inga, Séku Skandan, Lila Laird, Lisa Holmes, Vincent Rade, Morgane Forde-Honoré, Felix Harrison, Hayley Johnson and Darcy Carter.

    28 items were successfully repaired, 8 are still to be repaired and 3 were not repairable. Not bad for 2 hours of work!

    Cathy Allden and Hayley Guglietta, who are from the Richmond Community Garden made some delicious veggie soup and Lila made cake and biscuits and hot drinks were available so well fed!

    Watch this cool little video of happy Repair Café activities HERE!

    https://www.instagram.com/reel/CiuBn3mJ_r3/?igshid=ZjE0ZGRhNjQ%3D

    Repair Riverlution on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4232219936832842/

    There are 7 days left to DONATE AND SHARE! Increase the impact of your donation by sharing to your friends, family and networks:

    https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/local-skills-keep-treasures-out-of-landfill

    Stay tuned for more updates to see what your support does for our repair communities!

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  • Raumati South community launched their first Repair Café 🎉🛠🌿Time to celebrate what this crowdfunding is all about!

      21 September 2022
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    Kia ora friends of Repair Cafés,

    Thank you so much for the amazing support we are receiving from so many people who care about the planet and believe in practical community action such as Repair Cafés.

    Repair Café Aotearoa NZ empowers local Repair Cafés with set-up support, resources, online platforming, community connection and more, so they can focus on what they do best- repairing!

    Last Sunday, the Raumati South community held their first ever Repair Café! They had 110 items brought in, of which 92 were repaired in just 3 hours! The remaining 18 items received thorough assessments and advice in repairability from any of the 14 expert volunteers available on the day. There were 27 volunteers helping all together, including the Scouts managing their cool café on site.

    Check out these awesome pics of happy Repair Café visitors!

    FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/rsrepaircafe

    There are 8 days left to DONATE AND SHARE! Increase the impact of your donation by sharing to your friends, family and networks:

    https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/local-skills-keep-treasures-out-of-landfill

    Stay tuned for more updates to see what your support does for our repair communities!

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  • We were on RNZ today!

      20 September 2022
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    We were on RNZ today with the wonderful Charlotte Ryan, talking about the beauty and diversity of repair cafés and our crowdfunding campaign on Givealittle.

    Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gQJhThxM

    A HUGE Thank You to all you wonderful supporters and donors who help us fix more things and extend the lifespan of your belongings – For the future of our children, and for the planet we all call home.

    #crowdfundingcampaign #repaircafeaotearoanz

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  • We have passed $1,000 donated! Check out the work you are supporting 👏🛠🌿

      19 September 2022
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    Kia ora wonderful community,

    Thank you SO much for getting our crowdfunding campaign to $1,000! Repair Café Aotearoa NZ empowers local Repair Cafes with set-up support, resources, online platforming, community connection and more, so they can focus on what they do best- repairing!

    Over this past weekend, Nelson Tasman Climate Forum held their monthly Repair Café. They successfully repaired 21 items- 12 electrical items and 9 clothing or general items! Plus, the team of volunteer experts provided helpful advice on any items that they were unable to repair. The team was made up of 9 volunteers- 5 repairers, and 4 volunteers to greet, support or coordinate. Check out these happy faces with their newly repaired item!

    There are 11 days left to DONATE AND SHARE! Increase the impact of your donation by sharing to your friends, family and networks:

    https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/local-skills-keep-treasures-out-of-landfill

    Stay tuned for more updates to see what your support does for our communities!

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