People sit in rows of chairs, accompanied by lamps, vacuums, articles of clothing, bicycles and an assortment of other items, waiting their turn to see if their broken belongings can get a second life at the Port Townsend JeffCo Repair event.

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center (PTMSC) and local partners launched the first free JeffCo Repair event in 2020, which brought in volunteers with engineering and textiles skills to help community members with almost any broken item. 

The goal, said Mandi Johnson, PTMSC’s outreach coordinator, to keep items out of landfills and advance the nonprofit’s mission of conserving the Salish Sea.

“A huge part of that [mission] is actually thinking about our stuff differently and reusing and repairing and reducing the resources that we’re pulling out of the natural world,” Johnson said.

Although the repair events continued as a drop-off service during the pandemic, they expanded significantly once restrictions lifted and in-person events resumed.

As more people attended, the range of items brought in expanded, and the growing number of volunteers brought a wider, more niche set of skills, Johnson said.

Since the first event, volunteers served 1,179 community members, diverted roughly 3,971 pounds from the landfill and repaired 971 belongings — with a success rate of 82%, according to the PTMCS website. 

The return of face-to-face repairs not only underscored the environmental benefits of the initiative but also the value of community connection and knowledge exchange.

“It’s really important to see this person with an immense amount of skill working on this thing, and then you’re learning, ‘Oh, actually, a lot of this, I could totally do myself,’” Johnson said.

Eric McRae, a retired engineer and longtime volunteer, was surprised by how eager people were to learn as they watched him tinker.

“I try to explain what I’m doing, where the problem is technically, and almost everybody is very interested in what I do and where the problem is,” he said. “If possible, I try to teach them, ‘Okay, if this happens again, here’s where to look, and so forth.’”

However, even with a bit of guidance, Johnson and fellow volunteers heard a familiar refrain from community members over the years: they lacked access to the tools needed to tackle repairs on their own. 

To address the need, Johnson launched a Tool Library in July 2025, allowing residents to borrow the tools they need and donate what they can.

When people come to the library, they can get, “A little bit of knowledge, a little encouragement and the tools,” which builds the confidence to start their project or repair, said Linda Noble, a volunteer at the Tool Library.

As volunteers and item owners lean over fold-out tables, discussing tangled wires cased inside a drill or a pair of ripped jeans, their conversations often go beyond repair advice and into stories behind each belonging.

“You get to talk to the people and find out something about why they want this thing fixed, and where it came from, and what they’ve done with it over the years, lots of stuff like that,” said Dave Ehnebuske, a retired engineer and longtime volunteer. 

At the Nov. 1 event, Port Townsend resident Johanna Perkins brought in her late sister’s heavy-duty KitchenAid mixer and shared the importance of the disassembled item in front of her. 

Perkins’ sister, Margaret Gradé, a chef and early farm-to-table pioneer, opened a lodge in 1989 that quickly gained national acclaim for its eclectic atmosphere and standout cuisine. She was recognized by The New York Times and celebrities, like Jake Gyllenhaal and Sean Penn, who stayed at the lodge. 

“One time she dined with King Charles,” Perkins said. 

Perkins hopes to pass on the KitchenAid mixer to her sister’s children as a reminder of their mother and her accomplishments.