If there ever was a town well suited to a fix-it clinic, it’s Wrangell. The community’s residents pride themselves on adapting, making do with what is available, repairing and reusing and repurposing most anything and everything that can find a second or third life on the island.
They’re not hand-me-downs. A better way to think of it is good as new, or close enough.
Which is why the fix-it clinic tentatively set for mid-August is a perfect fit for Wrangell. It will be the first time for such an organized second-hand revival.
The WCA Earth Branch has taken on the job of rounding up volunteers willing to share their knowledge and repair skills. The hope is that those in town who know more than their neighbors will share their fix-it tools and skills with socket wrenches and vise-grips, soldering irons and steam irons, electrical cords, drapery cords and fixing the zipper on your favorite pair of winter cords.
A well-done repair can extend the life of small household appliances and fix the wobble and wiggle in furniture — maybe even restore your vacuum to that dog hair mean machine you remember.
It’s a matter of economics and environmental responsibility. Fixing anything is better than putting everything in a landfill.
“We’re hoping that the community can bring these people out of the shadows,” Alex Angerman, the Tl’átk – Earth Branch coordinator at WCA, said of the call for volunteers. “It is to promote sustainability and the reuse of items instead of tossing items and buying new,” she said.
More details will come later, as the Earth Branch starts to assemble a lineup of tune-up, cleanup and fix-up specialists. More than just getting the job done one time, the idea is that the skilled will help teach the less skilled how to do the job on their own in the future, which fits right in with the intent of providing a lasting benefit for the community.
Anyone interested in volunteering for the clinic can call Angerman at 907-874-4304, or email igapcoord.wca@gmail.com.
— Wrangell Sentinel
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