Paula Johanson

The idea and practice of sharing and repairing seems to capture peoples’ imagination, as these tales of community goodwill from the past year of   ZWS Repair Cafes and Swaps illustrate.

Two separate pairs of spontaneous volunteer fixers were tourists who each decided that driving from Victoria to Sooke to make repairs at our event was a terrific end to their holidays on the Island.

At the Yarn Swap, a community member brought her yarn winder, confidently occupied a corner of a table, and began winding balls of yarn for anyone who asked. Three huge boxes of yarn were donated to our Yarn Swap by widowers, each from their late wife’s stash. One of the three widowers brought his huge box to Sooke’s Yarn Store by mistake and Robin the owner thanked him kindly, then closed her store for half an hour to bring the huge box to us at the library. Two random persons spontaneously began sorting skeins from each huge box as it arrived: “Acrylic! Textured! Wool! Cotton!” into waiting hands. The emptied boxes were re-filled with yarn sorted for three local groups knitting for charity and driven away by new volunteers.

Two volunteers brought a truck full of leftover plants from their neighbourhood plant sale, to give away at the Gardening Swap. The Tools Swap saw the forging of intergenerational connections between gruff old men and optimistic young ones. The Jigsaw Puzzles & Board Games Swap has inspired a Puzzle Trading Club at the Library. And two parents attending Baby & Toddler Supplies Swap in anticipation of their foster child connected with parents who had raised foster children and helped them make plans.

The Repair Cafe and Swap series has had far-reaching positive impacts on the Sooke community overall. Thrift stores love our donations! The Community Hall is getting more paid rentals of the downstairs space we use, because more people know this space is available and affordable. The library has been able to export its expertise in hosting such events to other regional libraries.  Dozens of truckloads of items have been kept out of Hartland Road Landfill.

There is no way to count in dollars the value of people organizing their possessions, feeling generous, receiving gifts, or helping someone learn to fix an extension cord. The value of people being confident about participating in our local services is an immense benefit to our community.  The program of Repair Cafes and Swaps are ground zero for waves of community actions — small actions, real actions– build community.