Repair Cafe Kamloops is the recipient of a $500 microgrant to purchase tools for local repair events. The grant will allow Repair Cafe Kamloops to purchase specialized tools. The group has one year to spend the funds; however Don Olson, one of the key organizers and electrical repair experts, has already earmarked the funds.

Repair Cafe Kamloops has been active in the Kamloops community since April 2018. By April 2020, the group will have hosted eight repair events, with the next the events taking place on February 29th at Sahali Mall and a clothing repair event on March 6th at TRU, in partnership with the TRUSU Eco Club.

Over 150 successful repairs were made at the first five events (Apr 2018 – Oct 2019); most of the repairs (111) were for electrical or electronic items. Clothing and jewelry items were the next most popular items (28 successful repairs), but experts help make repairs for small engines, bicycles, furniture and other household items as well.

Repair Cafe Kamloops submitted the grant application to iFixit on January 31st and results were announced in February. “It was a great opportunity to participate in the larger online repair community. iFixit shares values with our group in that they just want to help people fix their own stuff,” says Don Olson, one of the core organizers of Repair Cafe Kamloops. The grant from iFixit was one of 100 grants to support local repair initiatives, that in turn help empower people to fix their broken stuff.