Last Sunday, Lorrie Bradley beamed with excitement as she showed off her once-broken appliance: A food processor she’d fixed at the Mission Repair Cafe, a collaborative repair workshop held inside a Mission District home.
Bradley saw posters advertising the workshop’s debut, and figured she’d stop by. She brought her food processor in while running errands. The bulky kitchen appliance had been broken for three years and was taking up space in her kitchen, but Bradley, who is trying to be more environmentally conscious, couldn’t bring herself to throw it out.
“I felt like I shouldn’t give up on it,” Bradley said. “I knew it could be repaired.”
She wasn’t alone in her thinking. Over 100 people, volunteers and participants alike, showed up on Sunday. Conversation, the sounds of sewing machines and clanking metal buzzed through the living room of the housing co-op where the event was hosted.
Allie McAndrews, who hosted the event, works as a recycling educator for a Bay Area garbage company, and had volunteered for six months at the Haight-NOPA Repair Cafe before deciding to start her own.
She says the Haight-NOPA version became so popular that it could no longer get through all the items people brought in over a day. That’s when she had the idea to create one in the Mission, where she lives, and give her neighbors an opportunity to fix their broken stuff.
“Recycling gets a lot of hype, but it’s really the last line of defense,” McAndrews said. “I think things like repair and re-use events need to be more accessible.”
The repair cafe is free and run by community volunteers recruited through Instagram. McAndrews said she received more than 150 applications but could only take 35.
Participants come by with broken appliance, ripped pants or just about anything they can carry, and are paired with a volunteer electrician, woodworker, sewist, or even a jewelry solderer.
But, McAndrews emphasized, it wasn’t a drop-off service. All participants got a disclaimer at the start of the event: No charge, no guarantee. They sit with their assigned repairer throughout the process to watch, ask questions, and possibly learn a new skill.
Marissa, who asked that her last name not be used, frequents as many repair cafes in the city as she can; she has a lot of belongings that only need a little love to make them functional again. Repair cafes also give her access to materials she normally wouldn’t have on hand, like heavy-duty glue, that help her keep items out of the landfill.
On Sunday, Marissa brought in a travel backpack that needed a seamstress. She is trying to learn to sew herself, and sitting at the cafe felt like a one-on-one lesson. Her volunteer, Elizabeth, walked her through the entire process, answered questions and asked Marissa if the repairs she was doing were okay.
“I’ve been to places where people sometimes just do whatever,” said Marissa, “and you’re just like ‘Oh my gosh.’” She showed off the backpack, now with its strap and zipper working.
According to California’s Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, Californians sent nearly 45 million tons of waste to the landfill in 2024. That’s about 6.2 pounds of trash per day per person.
McAndrews says diverting waste from landfills is the main reason why repair cafes exist. But they are also about learning and connection, so that participants can learn from a more experienced tinkerer and give a broken or damaged item a shot at a second life.
At the Mission Repair Cafe, each successful repair was loudly celebrated.
“If it was fixed, we ring the fix-it cowbell,” said Anup Mantri, a volunteer who helped participants complete the last step: Weighing items to track how much the cafe had kept out of the trash.
On this day, the cowbell rang 59 times, and 212 pounds of formerly broken things were diverted from a landfill.
Alec Watts, who bought in a tabletop fan, was among the unlucky few who couldn’t get their item repaired.
“He spent like 30 minutes trying to get it unscrewed,” said Watts about his repairman’s attempts.
Still, he had a good time.
“Clearly, all these people care about helping you,” Watts said. “It’s nice to have something like this.”
McAndrews plans to host another Mission Repair Cafe early next year. She’ll share updates on the cafe’s Instagram page. Until then, she encourages people to check out the city’s other fix-it options.
