Handy skills turn junk into 'wonders' at Prince Albert's repair caf

A Prince Albert, Sask., repair caf isn't just a place to come and get broken items fixedeven though that happens there too.

It's also about bringing people together to help out and learn from one another, while saving goods from getting tossed in thelandfill, said organizer Lillis Lawrence.

"It's always been my hope that the more we work together, as grassroot community, we'll build just a little bit more of a sharing attitude, of sharing skills and sharing knowledge," she told CBC Saskatchewan Weekend host Shauna Powers, in advance of Saturday's third-ever Prince Albert repair caf.

The monthly events startedin March, with Lawrence inviting volunteers to come and use their skills to help out, and show people who were interested how they might be able to repair goods like kettles or desk lamps themselves.

For 88-year-old Morris Bednarchuk, the item in need of repair was the microphone in his fiddle, which had a short in the wiring. He was getting frustratedand had been struggling to find a way to get the microphone fixed before he brought the instrument in to the repair caf.

"As soon as we fix it, you've got to play a few tunes for us," he recalled volunteers told him. So when he got the working fiddle back in his hands, that's exactly what he did.

They were really, really doing wonders for people.- Morris Bednarchuk, Prince Albert resident

"I was so happy," he said.

As a handyman himself, who is used to doing fix-it jobs around his own home, he said he's a big fan of the idea of repairing items, rather than tossing them away.

"They were really, really doing wonders for people."

Lawrence said she hopes the cafe will inspire people to take a second look at how they purchase things, and how they toss things away.

"We're in this world together. If someone tosses garbage out, someone else is going to have to handle itat some point. It doesn't just disappear."

The next repair cafis scheduled for Saturday, June 2 at the Margo Fournier Centre at 1 p.m. CST.