Kirralee Nicolle
7 April 2022
A Christian bookshop is taking on a new challenge by trying to empower its community to fix broken belongings rather than discarding them.
The Greensborough Christian Book Centre has begun a repair café as an innovative way of building community connections.
Director Christine Kollaris said she hoped the bimonthly events would go some way to reducing the amount of waste in landfill.
Ms Kollaris said that it also offered older members of the community an opportunity to pass on their abilities in areas such as sewing, woodwork and knitting while accessing skills in areas such as technology and electronics repair.
Ms Kollaris said that those involved as repairers so far have included non-church attendees as well as church attendees.
“[Environmental issues] are becoming quite urgent,” Ms Kollaris said.
“People who care about the environment really want to make a difference.”
Ms Kollaris said she would love to see other churches get involved.
She also said she hoped that the event can expand to feature presentations from experts in social justice issues.
“It can hopefully make church more relevant for those who [come],” Ms Kollaris said.
The Repair Café Foundation began in the Netherlands in 2011 and has now spread globally, with the vision of providing those with practical repair skills the opportunity to pass them on to others for free, while reducing waste and building enthusiasm for sustainable living practices.
The next Repair Café will be held at Greensborough Christian Book Centre on Saturday 21 May from 12:30pm.
To find out more about Repair Cafés, go to repaircafe.org/en/ or the website for Greensborough Christian Book Centre: gcbc.net.au/.
