For more than 10 years, on the third Friday of every month, Maker Works in Ann Arbor has hosted Fix-It Friday, a free membership-based workshop space just south of downtown Ann Arbor, to help people with items like broken furniture, upholstery, toys, lights and more.
Members with various backgrounds, from 3D printing to electrician to automotive engineer to construction contractors, volunteer their time to help guests.
Josh Williams started at Maker Works as front desk staff in 2014. He's now the workshop's executive director. “It’s really cool to hear the stories in all the things people bring in," he said. "It is really cool we can help them to keep that piece of history.”
Williams said Maker Works' founders envisioned tools should be accessible to people — and there are a lot of people with skills and knowledge that could be useful to help the community repair stuff. A lot of the volunteers are retired professionals, and they want to help people.
When guests bring items in for repair, Williams said, he hopes they can stay to watch and learn — and maybe find out that a lot of those things aren’t that hard to repair. Sometimes, all you need are screwdrivers and a soldering iron.
Mona Peacewalker, of Romulus, came to Fix It Friday for the first time on April 19. She brought in a few electronic items, including an LED infrared panel and an infrared knee healing sleeve that was partially working. She did a quick research online to find places that could help her and decided to come to Fix It Friday. She met with volunteer fixer Jeff Campau, and spent a little more than an hour diagnosing and soldering the wires. And just like that, her items were fixed.
“I feel like I accomplished something," Peacewalker said. "I created something, with help. It was awesome to have that help there. I’m so much happier!”
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ann Arbor company's Fix-It Fridays will repair your broken stuff, teach DIY skills
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