In addition to the traditional items seen at typical Kamloops Repair Café events, the TRU campus event on November 21, 2024 from 10am to 3pm will offer fixes to workwear and outdoor gear.

This Repair Café event, a collaboration with the Thompson Rivers University (TRU) Sustainability Office and TRU Library Makerspace, will take place at the Makerspace, located on the first floor in the Brown Family House of Learning (behind Tim Horton’s). The event is open to all TRU and Kamloops community members. No pre-registration is needed, just show up with your broken item! A list of accepted items is shown at the bottom of this post. Bonus: there will be free snacks!

The event will also feature a clothing exchange—mainly cold-weather clothing—so anyone attending can look through the donated clothing items and take some home for free. Each person can take a maximum of two items.

TRU and Kamloops community members who are able to donate clean and gently-used cold-weather clothing (coats, sweaters, long pants, long-sleeved shirts, mitts/gloves, scarves, toques, etc.) can drop them off at either the Sustainability Office, TRU Makerspace, or the Student Experience office in Old Main (room 1468 under the main stairs in Student Street next to the Security office). Thanks in advance for all donations!

Repair Cafés are part of a growing international grassroots movement that aims to reduce waste, overconsumption, and planned obsolescence. They can reignite the do-it-together and “do it yourself” spirit and strengthen social cohesion. Like most Repair Cafés, this one will be run by a team of volunteers and it’s free for those participating.

Repair Café volunteers will assess whether your item is reparable or whether it should be sustainably recycled or disposed of. If there’s hope to mend your item, Repair Café “fixers” will diagnose the problem and teach you how to carry out the repair and/or help you fix it. Don’t miss this opportunity to join the repair revolution in Kamloops!

Repair Café Kamloops is an initiative of Transition Kamloops, a local not-for-profit dedicated to building a more resilient community. Repair Café volunteers gratefully acknowledge funding from a City of Kamloops Climate Action Grant.

Items that will be accepted at the TRU event include:

• Clothing and textiles that need typical repairs. If a new zipper is needed, every attempt will be made to facilitate this, but there are no guarantees!
• Work wear and outdoor gear (heavy clothing, packs, sleeping bags, etc.)
• Small household electronic appliances and electrical items (lamps, kitchen appliances, vacuums, coffee makers, etc.)
• Wood furniture that needs simple repairs (loose parts, missing screws, etc.)
• Bicycles

Items that will not be accepted include:

• Footwear
• Gas or other fuel powered devices
• Computers or cell phones
• Anything that needs two or more people to carry

Our team looks forward to seeing you at TRU!