Fixit Clinics

Fixit Clinics are fun community-based workshops where neighbors, friends, and families work collectively to learn how to repair broken items. We’ll provide a workspace, specialty tools, and volunteer Fixit Coaches to help you troubleshoot and provide routine maintenance to your household items and appliances!

Get Involved

San Mateo County Fixit Clinics help residents repair items instead of sending to landfill

In-person Fixit Events

Attend a community repair self-help workshop where you can receive help repairing your broken durable goods. These gatherings are generously staffed by volunteer Fixit Coaches who share their time, tools and expertise. Bring your broken, non-functioning things — electronic gadgets, appliances, computers, toys, sewing machines, fabric and textile items, etc.– for assessment, disassembly, troubleshooting and possible repair.

Fixit Clinic volunteer coach helps child repair electronic toy

Fixit Coach Volunteer

Interested in being a volunteer Fixit Coach? It’s easy! Fixit coaches provide participants with:

Guidance on selecting and using the right tools
Encouragement to explore their broken items to learn more about them
Opportunities to share how they used the item and how it broke- often revealing key clues about the problem
A hands-off approach, allowing participants to troubleshoot and disassemble items themselves, empowering them to learn and repair independently

Fixit Coach Signup

Featured News Coverage

Fixit Clinic on CBS News video footage about fighting climate change by keeping gadgets out of landfills

CBS News, “Fixit Clinic” volunteers on Peninsula fight climate change by keeping gadgets out of landfills

Californians throw about 40 million tons of trash into the landfill each year, including gadgets, electronics, appliances, toys, and items that no longer work. Fixit Clinics, however, empower people to change this by working alongside dedicated volunteers who show them how to repair and revive their items.

Watch news segment

Sustainability Department, Fixit Clinic Feature

The Sustainability Department showcases the impact of Fixit Clinics, where community members work together to repair broken items and reduce waste.

Watch on YouTube

Fixit Clinic volunteer helps participant repair electronic device - photo by Kathryn Styer Martinez for KQED

KQED, Bay Area’s ‘Fix-It’ Culture Thrives Amid State’s Forthcoming Right-to-Repair Law

Fixit Clinics empower people with hands-on repair skills, helping them keep items in use longer and reduce waste. Aligned with the right-to-repair movement, these clinics support California’s new law requiring manufacturers to provide parts and information for repairs, challenging the culture of disposability and fostering sustainability.

(Photo: Kathryn Styer Martinez/KQED)

Read news article

Fabric and Textile Repair

Join your neighbors in sewing, and gain and share skills while mending and socializing. Many libraries have sewing machines and offer regular programs in mending, fabric, and textile repair. They might also be able to help with keeping your own sewing machine in working order.

Note that library programs are open to everyone; you don’t have to be a resident of that city to participate. Attend any or all.

Below are regular sewing programs at libraries, but your local library may also offer additional classes or workshops that cover basic sewing skills or guide you through specific projects. Click on the program link for more details.

Library	Event Name & Link	Day/Time	Additional Information
Foster City	Open Sewing	Regular basis
Half Moon Bay	Open Sewing	Mondays, 6-8 PM Tuesdays, 10 AM–2:30 PM
Millbrae	Open Sewing	Fridays, 10AM-12PM Saturdays, 2:30-4PM
Redwood City	Open Sewing	Tuesdays, 10:30 AM-12:30 PM	Embroidery machine is available
San Mateo	Afternoon Sewing	2nd and 4th Thursdays, 2-5 PM
South San Francisco	Mending Hour	Thursdays, 1-2 PM	Embroidery machine is available