The Upcycling Center at Ohio Wesleyan University and Sustainable Delaware, Ohio (SDO) are organizing the community's first Repair Café from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, at the Unity Community Center, 50 Ross St., Delaware. During the three-hour event, volunteer repair experts will be available to help make all possible repairs free of charge.
People visiting the Repair Café should bring broken items from home. Toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, bikes, toys, crockery ... anything that is broken is welcome. And can more than likely be repaired.
By promoting repairs, OWU and SDO want to help reduce mountains of waste, said David Soliday, creative reuse wrangler with the Upcycling Center.
"We throw away piles of stuff in America," Soliday said. "Even things which practically have nothing wrong with them, and which could easily be used again after a simple fix. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can have things repaired. Repair Café wants to change all that."
OWU and SDO hope to hold Repair Café events twice a year in Delaware, he said.
Former journalist/publicist Martine Postma launched the Repair Café International Foundation in 2010. It provides professional support to local groups around the world wishing to start their own Repair Cafés and also supports the Repair Café in Westerville.
Learn more at SustainableDelawareOhio.org or Repaircafe.org/en.