Good morning, happy Sunday! It’s finally here: International Repair Day is next Saturday! We’re so excited to share another day of repairing the world with the community, and we hope you’ll join us in considering the role of repair in our lives.

Next Repair Café: 12:30pm-2:30pm Saturday, October 17th

Our next event will be Saturday, October 17th, 2026 at the Vienna Community Center.

This event will have a strict “one item per person” policy. We’re expecting it to be busy. If you have multiple items to repair, please bring the others to a different event. For knife sharpening, our standard limit of 3 blades per person is still in effect, but may be reduced if the knife sharpeners determine it’s necessary. Please have a priority in mind.

Here’s the address:

120 Cherry Street SE
Vienna, VA 22180

For transit: This location is served by Fairfax Connector 461, 463, and 467

By car: This location has a parking lot around the front and side of the building, with a drop-off lane. Parking immediately from Cherry Street SE or Mill Street SE is usually gravel, and smooth-paved spots are available at the side of the building.

Here’s a link with more information about the location: https://www.viennava.gov/Town-Departments/Parks-and-Recreation/Vienna-Community-Center

Special programming for October 17th: Teddy Bear Repair Clinic + Vegetable Gardening Workshop

Teddy Bear Repair Clinic is a volunteer force dedicated to reviving and mending stuffed friends. They can be any animal, not just bears! This group joins us from our friends at the Learning Quest, a nonprofit devoted to lifelong learning. If you have a stuffed friend in your life who might benefit from a patch or stitch, Teddy Bear Repair Clinic is here to help. Teddy Bear Repair Clinic will be available for the full duration of the event, 12:30pm-2:30pm, on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Vegetable Gardening workshop will start at around 1pm. This workshop is specialized for anyone who may want to start vegetable gardening, but may not know how or where to start. The workshop also may be of interest to people who have started vegetable gardening, but might want to learn about other opportunities and guidance from a gardener. Topics will include a few different strategies, to start at home or with a community garden, like Vienna’s Community Garden. You do not need to be a Vienna resident to attend, as the information discussed will be applicable in multiple places, and there are a number of community gardens available around the NoVA area.

Next up: November, December Cafés

Sunday, November 8th, 2026 10:30am-12:30pm @ Pohick Regional Library

6450 Sydenstricker Road
Burke, VA, 22015-4274

*Volunteer sign-up: https://volunteernow.volunteerfairfax.org/custom/1427/opp_details/191904

Saturday, December 12th, 2026 12:30pm-2:30pm @ Mary Riley Styles Public Library

120 N Virginia Avenue 
Falls Church, VA 22046

*Volunteer sign-up: TBD

*Volunteer Fairfax will be moving to a new platform soon! Everyone who is signed up on the current platform will be moved to the new one when the change is finished. If you want to sign up and you have trouble with Volunteer Fairfax, just send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll add you to the roster.

Countdown to International Repair Day: 6 days away!

At its simplest, repair is the act of fixing something. The “something” is usually broken, and it’s usually a physical object.

“Right to Repair” is less about the physical nature of the object, the tools, or the skills. Right to Repair is about the legal barriers boxing us into corporate, price-gouged “repair” systems, when they’re even available. It’s about waste and planned obsolescence, it’s about subscription services, transparency, and production that harms people and our world. And, Right to Repair is about what we can do in our own communities to stop it.

In the USA, we do not have the right to repair our own things. We can take cars to third-party auto shops, but if those auto shops aren’t recognized by the manufacturer, they might not be able to fix the problem. We can take some things, like sewing machines and vacuums, to third-party repairers, but many modern appliances require special tools and parts to fix. This is by design: manufacturers make more money if we can only go through them for repairs, and even more money if we can’t repair at all, and must purchase a new item.

Additionally, when repair is available, manufacturers can disincentivize it through various means. For example, a manufacturer might offer repairs if you ship your item across the country to their one repair center for the region, or they might say that opening or “tampering with” the item can void its warranty. In the US, all of these things are legal, but they make people more likely to throw away their items and get new ones, or continue using something broken/unsafe.

Today, this issue is recognized by a number of names. When a product is designed with an artificial “time limit”, due to user-hostile features or subpar materials, this is called “planned obsolescence”, because the manufacturer has constructed the item intending for it to fail prematurely, becoming “obsolete”. This term is also used for manufacturers who release new models of the same product with slight changes or “upgrades” each year. When a product harvests your data without your knowledge or consent, this is a violation of “data privacy”. (And we do have a Virginia law for that!) And when these, and many, many other tricks combine, we face the perfect blend of barriers to stop people from repairing their own things. All of these and more can be considered under the banner of “Right to Repair”. At its core, Right to Repair is about knowing how your stuff works, and being able to fix it, whenever you want, however you want.

There are a lot of groups fighting for our right to repair our own stuff. iFixit is a leader in the space, as well as the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). Legislation is being considered in states around the country, and although a recent bill failed to pass our VA state legislature, there remains a broad and growing base of support for Right to Repair laws. We are part of this fight, too. Repair Cafe as a concept fights waste and barriers to repair. We are showing everyone that a better world is possible - that we can repair stuff, we should repair stuff, and it should be easier to repair stuff. We are nurturing skills that corporations wish we lost, and we are learning all the amazing things we can achieve when we work together.

Repair Day is a celebration of repair around the world. In 2026, Repair Day asks us, “how does repair bring us together?” When I look around one of our monthly events, I see strangers becoming friends, teaching and learning, I see people laughing and talking and having a great time. It is a joy to be on this adventure, with everyone who has decided to spend their weekend with us, and I look forward to many more Repair Cafes in the future.

At our October 17th event, we’ll have an interactive activity, where visitors can write a note to share how repair connects them with their community. We’ll have a few prompts available, but you’re welcome to contribute anything that strikes you in the moment.

If you have any questions, or if you want to check if your one item can be repaired at Repair Cafe, send me an email! You can respond directly to this message, or send me a separate email at [email protected]. If you want to attach pictures, a separate email works best.

Thank you for your continued support, and happy International Repair Day! 🔧

Ari Nicholas

Fairfax County Repair Cafe