Written by Joli Liu and Caryl Hsu
Translated by H.B. Qin
Edited by Ariel Tsai
Before the Repair Café event began, people patiently gathered outside the Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region Office entrance, holding appliances or household items in need of repair. Everyone shared the hope that these broken, forgotten items could be brought to renewed life.
Reducing Waste, Uniting Community
Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region partnered with the international environmental organization Repair Café to host a Community Repair Day, promoting the environmentally conscious lifestyle concept: “Don’t Discard; Repair Instead”. This is the first time the two organizations have collaborated. The event took place at the Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region Office’s facility, drawing enthusiastic community participation.
Repair Café is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by Martine Postma in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Currently, there are more than 2,500 Repair Café locations worldwide, dedicated to reducing waste and building community through repairs.
Repair Café is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Currently, there are more than 2,500 Repair Café locations worldwide, dedicated to reducing waste and building community through repairs.
Repair Café Silicon Valley has been operating for over a decade, accumulating extensive community service experience. Due to the lack of a permanent venue, its activities have largely depended on support from various community partners.
Through the connection of a Tzu Chi commissioner, Repair Café Silicon Valley established a partnership with the Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region, with their first joint event held on January 17, 2026. Utilizing Tzu Chi’s San Jose campus space, it brought together a group of skilled volunteers to serve the community, practicing the concept of extending the lifespan of objects, and contributing to environmental protection and humanitarian care.
Extending Family Memories Through Repairs
The Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region provided its campus space so that community members have the opportunity to choose “repair” over “landfill”, allowing items carrying rich memories and significance to be “reborn” and continue accompanying their owners into the future.
Eight-year-old Rafael arrived at the event with his very first Christmas gift, a miniature train set he had gotten as a newborn, hoping it would run around the Christmas tree once more during the next holiday season. His mother, Preze, shared that this was the first gift the family gave Rafael when he was just two months old, a gift that carried memories of their first Christmas together. For eight years, the train had accompanied the family through countless warm moments.
However, the train had suddenly stopped working. Though his parents tried fixing it themselves and even bought a new set, Rafael never stopped cherishing this precious first gift. Thanks to the skilled hands of volunteers, the train finally runs again.
When sharing her motivation for organizing this event, Tzu Chi volunteer Minette Chan said, “Silicon Valley is home to many engineers and repair experts with both technical skills and passion. They enjoy making and fixing things in their daily lives.”
Through this collaboration, we hope to bring like-minded volunteers together to share repair techniques while inspiring more people to cherish resources, appreciate their belongings, and join our efforts.
She also noted that for Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region, this represents a new service opportunity. It not only allows the community to connect with Tzu Chi but also further promotes Tzu Chi’s long-standing environmental mission of cherishing blessings, valuing possessions, and extending the lifespan of objects.
Passing on the Messages of Care, Environmentalism, and Helping Others
Jesse Kornblum, one of the event organizers of Repair Café Silicon Valley, visited the Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region Office campus during event preparations to gain a deeper understanding of Tzu Chi’s philosophy and various missions.
During the visit, Jesse was impressed by Tzu Chi’s long-term commitment to environmental protection, disaster relief, and emergency aid. Tzu Chi’s operational model for emergency response and its spirit of humanitarian care resonated strongly with him, fostering genuine admiration for Tzu Chi’s philosophy of “immediate action and selfless compassion.”
This shared value paved the way for collaboration between Repair Café Silicon Valley and Tzu Chi USA Northwest Region. Jesse noted that this cross-organizational partnership was expected not only to provide practical repair services to the community but also to continuously spread the spirit of compassion, environmentalism, and helping others through each recovered item.
Community Acts Together in Extending Object Lifespans
Items brought in for repair varied from rice cookers, kettles, microwaves, space heaters, and sewing machines to food processors and vacuum cleaners. Jennifer, a local resident, drove her pickup truck to bring an aluminum screen door needing roller replacement. Others brought clothing, tote bags, backpacks, and accessories in need of mending, transforming the venue into a bustling, warm community repair workshop.
Meihsiang Shen, a retired physical therapist, now dedicates herself to Tzu Chi volunteer service. Passionate about sewing and crafting handmade items, she provided vital sewing support at the event. With practiced dexterity, she threaded needles and meticulously repaired each item, extending their lifespans and spreading warmth through her hands.
Among the many sewing volunteers, Tyler stands out not only for his tall stature but also for his unique background. As a software engineer in the field of linguistic technology, he traces his connection to sewing back to childhood memories. At age ten, his grandmother taught him to operate a sewing machine and gifted him a Singer sewing machine, planting the seed of sewing in him. About five years ago, he rediscovered this craft, starting by altering his own clothes to better fit his tall, slender frame. Today, he applies his sewing skills to community repair, helping others mend items. This practice embodies the concept of extending the lifespan of objects while also contributing to reducing waste and litter.
Mending a Doll, Sewing a Mother-Daughter Bond
A ninety-year-old lady, leaning on a cane, slowly entered the Repair Cafe, with a doll with a broken leg carefully carried in her arm. This doll used to belong to her sixty-two-year-old daughter, representing the deepest emotional bond between mother and daughter. For the lady, the doll itself, which was over sixty years old, was far more than an object. It embodied endless longing for her daughter and symbolized enduring companionship.
After hearing the story, volunteers started the repair with exceptional care. They meticulously reattached the broken leg, piece by piece, and repeatedly checked for stability and safety. When the doll finally stood upright again, it seemed to take the place of the woman’s daughter, whether far away or no longer able to be by her side, quietly standing beside the lady once more, accompanying her through the years ahead. In that moment, what was restored was not merely an object, but the deep emotions and memories held within her heart.
In the campus’s parking lot, a fully equipped Bicycle Repair Stop was equally bustling. Volunteers Chinli Liang and John Joseph Ochoa are both seasoned cycling enthusiasts who commute or ride for leisure daily, making them highly familiar with bicycle mechanics and maintenance. When learning about Tzu Chi’s partnership with Repair Café to establish this Repair Stop, they volunteered their services. Leveraging their expertise, they inspected and repaired bicycles for community members, enabling safer cycling while actively supporting environmental protection and low-carbon living.
During the event, over 200 items were repaired, more than double the Repair Café’s average daily repair count of 75. Each time an item was successfully fixed, volunteers rang a bell and announced, “We fixed it! We saved another item’s life.” Cheers erupted repeatedly, filling the space with a sense of accomplishment and joy.
Though not every item could be successfully repaired, the repair volunteers tried their best with great patience. During the residents’ wait, Tzu Chi volunteers thoughtfully prepared refreshments, interacted with everyone, and introduced Tzu Chi’s philosophy and environmental mission. Broken items should not be discarded immediately, but first attempted to be repaired; this is the most direct form of respect for the “life of things”. And that respect not only unites the community but also helps people rediscover the value of objects, allowing connections through repair, and initiating a virtuous cycle of goodness.
The event also provided many repair volunteers and community members who were previously unfamiliar with or had never connected with Tzu Chi with their first chance for an in-depth understanding and interaction with the organization. It successfully cultivated positive connections for Tzu Chi, an outcome that is both moving and deeply appreciated.
Come and Join the Next Repair Cafe on
May 03, 2026
Items repaired include:
- Small Appliances (e.g., toasters, irons, vacuum cleaners)
- Small Machinery (e.g., lawnmowers, lawn trimmers)
- Electronic Products (e.g., clocks, DVD/CD players)
- Computers and Related Equipment
- Bicycles
- Sewing and Textile Products
- Costume Jewelry and Crafts
- Lamps
- Suitcases
- Small Furniture
