Over the years, community members have brought in almost everything you can imagine getting repaired: electric teapots, vacuum cleaners, bicycles, worn-out luggage, hoverboards, and even beloved teddy bears.
Once a month, in the basement of the Leaven Community Common House in Northeast Portland, Repair PDX volunteers work to fix dozens of items—keeping them from becoming garbage, saving their owners the expense of buying new items, and preventing the greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing and transporting new goods.
Since 2013, Repair PDX has hosted almost 90 free events, serving more than 4,000 participants and repairing over 5,000 items. The items are restored and so is a sense of community for participants and volunteers.
Spreading repair culture with PCEF support
Repair Cafés are free for the public, but Executive Director Lauren Gross explained that Repair PDX depends on donations to stay running. As the organization’s work has expanded, its expenses have started to outpace its revenue.
Then, in September 2024, the Portland City Council approved Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) grants for 71 community-led programs, including a two-year $100,000 grant to sustain Repair PDX.
“Community-led projects deliver multiple benefits, bringing people together to address our climate crisis in ways that are highly personal and empowering,” said PCEF Clean Energy Project Manager Kris Grube. “We are looking for and support community-created projects that address both our climate crisis and crisis of inequality. When we truly involve all Portlanders in climate solutions, we get multiple benefits.”
Repair PDX expands its offerings
Most Repair PDX events are held in Leaven’s spacious basement, in a building that is shared by other community-minded organizations such as the NE Portland Tool Library.
From there, Repair PDX can offer three-hour Repair Cafés every month. It can put on specialty workshops such as textile repair and kintsugi, a technique of restoring broken pottery that proudly features a repaired section instead of disguising it.
Repair PDX also forms partnerships with other nonprofits. This winter, Repair PDX worked with the nonprofit ReClaim It, which salvaged broken lamps that had been discarded at Metro’s waste transfer station and had been destined for the landfill. A PDX Repair instructor used the broken lamps to teach a repair class. After a safety check, Repair PDX sent the renewed lamps to Community Warehouse, a furniture bank for families in need.
Gross got the inspiration to start the Portland organization from attending a repair café in 2011 in Amsterdam, where the budding community repair movement was taking its first steps. When Gross returned to Portland, she knew the idea would fit perfectly with her hometown’s environmental ethics. She and a team of volunteers hosted the first Repair Café in 2013 at a supportive restaurant; over the years, events have moved to several locations throughout the city.
The current location offers stability for the organization, its volunteers, and a growing community of attendees. Volunteers can spread out their tools and really listen to people as they explain not just how an item got broken but often why it means more to them than money. The unraveling wool jacket belonged to a relative who had recently died. The teddy bear was a gift from a hospital stay. The worn-out quilt was the favorite nest of an aging pet—and needed re-sewing to survive a trip through the washing machine.
Operating with a repair mindset
At a recent Repair Café, Kyra MacIlveen watched intently as first-time volunteer Peter Grazier took apart her electric teapot. MacIlveen suspected—and Grazier confirmed—that a safety mechanism in the base of the teapot activated when the water boiled dry, shutting off the power to prevent a fire.
“It’s my fault,” MacIlveen said.
“No, it’s the manufacturer’s fault, and it’s a simple problem to fix,” replied Grazier, a retired civil engineer, consultant, and author.
Manufacturers used to put reset buttons on the outside of appliances. But these days, the reset can often be found only by prying open the machine. After wrestling with a rusty screw, Grazier found and released the button—and just like that, the teapot was no longer junk.
“There are things that shouldn’t be thrown out,” she said. “It’s wasteful. It’s wasteful for me, because I’d have to buy a new one, and it’s wasteful for the environment.”
Sharing repair knowledge
Vicki Gustafson has attended almost every Repair Café. A retired technical designer and the owner of seven sewing machines, she brings a career’s worth of skill to the people sitting on the other side of the folding table.
“There’s nothing I can’t fix, at this point in my life,” she laughed.
Over the years, Gustafson has repaired everything from worn-out luggage to beloved stuffed toys. She’s even taken projects home with her when they couldn’t be completed during a repair event, such as the favorite stuffed white horse of a four-year-old, which was losing material through a tear in his leg. Gustafson delights in teaching others—like Justin Dimos, a volunteer who started at the reception table, but now volunteers for sewing repairs in the seat to Gustafson’s right.
Although she prefers difficult projects, the real satisfaction doesn’t come from the complexity of the repair, Gustafson said.
“It doesn’t have to be a big job,” she said. “More than anything, it’s people’s reactions. People are delighted. I get the endorphins from helping people.”
Volunteers can’t fix every item. The success rate is about 95% for sewing, 80% for bicycles and 60% for appliances, Gross said. Mike Walsh and his fifth-grader, Jack, walked away from the café with a hoverboard that was still broken—but with a plan to order a new part and return.
attend or volunteer at a Repair Café
Would you like to attend or volunteer at an upcoming café? Repair Cafés are FREE and open to all members of the public. Most are held at Leaven Community House, 5431 NE 20th Avenue in Portland, but Repair PDX also hosts events at other locations.
Find an upcoming Repair Café on Repair PDX’s event calendar. Mark your calendar and arrive early—these events are first-come, first-served and they can fill up fast.
Repair PDX also welcomes volunteers—both those with repair skills and those who wish to learn and help in other ways.