Free Fixes with WNC Repair Cafe

If it’s broken, tattered, or torn, chances are, Dan Hettinger and his team can repair it at no cost. These volunteers operate WNC Repair Cafe with the mantra: “If it comes from your house and fits in your car, we’ll try to fix it!” The group gathers at community centers to offer free household and sewing repairs as well as farm and garden tool fixes. Since 2018, they’ve hosted more than 100 clinics in Haywood and Buncombe counties.

Each session is run by a dozen do-gooders and brings in about 50 repairs on lamps, small engines and appliances, furniture, bicycles, and more. “Recent events have seen as many as 80 jobs! My favorites are on family heirlooms, like the time we stitched up a 60-year-old stuffed animal made from real rabbit fur,” says Hettinger, who’s “drawn to repairs for folks who have an emotional connection to what needs fixed and don’t know where to go.”

That sentimentality was driven home in the wake of Hurricane Helene as the crew pitched in to get the community back up and running. “Volunteers met 11 times that October across four counties and fixed over 500 chainsaws and 50 generators, including one that was 12 feet underwater,” Hettinger recalls. WNC Repair Cafe is also building a new generation of handypeople by teaching repair skills to Haywood County high schoolers.

Get Your Fix

To learn more and see the 2026 schedule, follow @WNCRepairCafe on Facebook or email wncrepaircafe@gmail.com.