(gentle music) - I'm Jennifer Brady, co-founder of the Peoria Area Repair Cafe, where we like to fix it, don't pitch it.

So Repair Cafe concepts started in Europe maybe 15 years ago to encourage people to, if something breaks, fix it instead of buying a new one.

You ready?

- Yeah.

- A repair cafe is a place that community members come together to fix things and keep them out of landfills.

Some people call it a fix it fair.

There are many different names for it, depending on what city or organization.

Two years ago, I saw a news segment that another city had one, and I saw it on the national news and I said, "Why can't Peoria have one of those?

That sounds great.

I'm all about keeping things out of the landfill."

I did what any person does, and I looked up for a book, and I found a book at the library and I checked out the book.

Then the book was basically how to start a repair cafe.

So I started a Facebook page and one meeting and then the idea died for a while because I was too busy.

- So I got the idea to, at our neighborhood garage sale, just setting up a table, a sign to say, "Repair cafe."

I know how to sew and fix lamps, but I have a shortwave radio that the volume doesn't work.

Some people showed up to fix my shortwave radio.

Then a neighbor walked by while I was sitting there for the garage sale and said, "Oh, I've seen something about this on Facebook."

And it turns out that was Nikki's Facebook page that she created and then we just kind of started joining forces.

- You can expect small engine repair, jewelry repair.

We've got some sewing and mending.

We've got blade sharpening.

You fill out the RSVP form online.

That lets us know what repair you need done and so that we can potentially have parts or tools ready for that.

And then you'll come the night of, you'll come in the front doors and we'll have signs everywhere to guide you and people to greet you.

Come to the check-in table and then you'll be guided to your repair station.

- You got it.

Want a couple more stitches.

And if you're scared of that, do it by hand.

- [Nikki] We don't just repair it for you while you stand there and look at us.

- That's okay.

You'll get the feel of the foot pedals.

- We teach you how.

So we explain all the steps that are going on in the process.

If you can help safely, then we let you put the part in.

We let you put the glue on.

I mean, so you are learning a skill.

- Well, we're passing on some skills that were passed on to me.

- I heard about it on Facebook.

The event was shared and caught my eye.

So gathered up some things at home to bring on over.

- Some of my mentors over the years have always charged me with, "I taught it to you, teach it to someone else," and ran into the repair cafe here last year and this is something I can do.

- Even for the people fixing things, we didn't any of us know each other at all.

But this concept has brought us together with that common feeling of like, it's just fun.

- It brings us together in a way.

We get to learn from each other.

Have conversations.

- Because the younger generation isn't learning it in school.

- There's also this intergenerational aspect where, you know, the older people who grew up learning how to fix things are teaching the younger generation, who grew up not knowing how to fix things.

- And that's the easy way to do it.

- It brings people together with a common interest that would not meet each other otherwise.

- When Jeff here asked me if I wanted to learn how to sharpen my knives, I was like, "Sure, that'd be great," 'cause you know, any of that knowledge that you can take on yourself and hopefully this is something that I can handle in the future.

- It's kind of what our world needs right now for many different reasons.

- Well, I don't know about you, but I can't afford to buy any new stuff.

And if I can buy a, you know, a nice kitchen knife at a flea market for a dollar and clean it up and sharpen it up and save myself 50, hey, why not?

- Well, sustainability's always been a personal interest of mine.

And honestly, I feel like should be it for everyone.

I want to take care of the things that I've owned.

- The only landfill that you control is your garbage can.

And the landfill in Peoria is full.

And so the more we can keep out of the landfill, the better it is for that whole process of our taxes.

- [Jennifer] It kind of reduces our footprint on the planet.

It saves us money.

We don't have to spend money to buy the thing that broke and replace it.

- Yay.

- The website is peoriarepaircafe.org.

- We can always use more volunteers.

If you don't know how to fix something, please still come and be an apprentice.

You can learn how to fix from the experts and that is building our volunteer base.

- It's good for the environmental reasons, it's also good for community building.

- It brings us together.

- We get to learn from each other, have conversation.

- We're learning and getting better every time we do this.