Peoria Public Library, North Branch 10am-2pm

This event again included our DIY Materials swap and clothing swap, Peoria Bike Coop and Master Gardeners, and we were able to bring a new volunteer in for the knife/scissor sharpening! Hosted by Peoria Public Library North Branch, we thought we might have a larger crowd because of the extra outreach they provided and we were right! Our largest attendance yet, we had 38 visitors and weighed 220 pounds of repairs that did not have to a)remain in your basement or b)go to the landfill.

Fix-it Story of the Day: Well other than some FANTASTIC new volunteer talent in the small appliance division (much needed as that was the greatest “area of need”) and a lovely conversation with Linda, who just popped in to see what we were doing, I want to share the story of “The Juicer That Wasn’t Broken.” 

Once upon a time, a woman juiced a lot of I’m going to say lemons because I don’t actually know what she was juicing when the juicer stopped working. She boxed up the appliance and put it away thinking darn, now how do I get that fixed? Well, years went by (I’m making this part up too) and one day she found out about the Peoria Repair Cafe and thought, “I will bring my broken juicer and see if they can help me fix it!” On the day of the Repair Cafe she was first in line. They took her juicer out of the box. Plugged it in…and it worked! Not broken! We all learned something that day: some appliances have something called (dang it, I can’t find my notes) a thermal auto shut off thingy that when your appliance overheats because of overuse it will shut off the appliance automatically so it does not catch on fire. Great feature, right? So now we know a)be gentle to your juicer and b)if your appliance shuts off unexpectedly, try it again the next day (or in an hour?) after it has cooled down.

Volunteers: 22

Visitors: 38

Fixed Items: 26 (lots sharpened! Bikes fixed!)

Weight: 221 lbs