Chicago Tool Library offers repair therapy during uncertain times

A gigantic tool shed in West Garfield Park may seem like an unusual place for inspiration. But that’s what many visitors to the nonprofit Chicago Tool Library found there recently, even amid grim headlines about economic uncertainty.

Last Saturday, the Tool Library held a Repair Fair where handy volunteers fix broken items for free or a donation. The library holds Repair Fairs several times each year. Nearly 200 people attended the latest one, including Mary Soria, a Little Village resident who came with her two kids, her father and his wife.

Soria’s 9-year-old son brought his bike for a tune-up. Her father brought a broken vacuum cleaner, TV and coffee maker. While they waited, the family perused the Tool Library’s tidy aisles stocked with thousands of tools and equipment, including ladders, lawnmowers, saws, sewing machines and much more. Members borrow tools for free with a pay-what-you-can membership.

Soria became a member two years ago and borrowed a tent and camping equipment for a family trip. “This place is awesome,” she said. “It’s important to not just be consuming.”

Her awareness of sustainability has influenced her son, Joaquin. He has made action figures out of Capri Sun straws and a caddy from a Gatorade bottle. “We hold those things more dear than something bought at the store,” Soria said.

Consumer confidence fell for a fifth consecutive month in April, “falling to levels not seen since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, released on Tuesday.

In spite of headlines warning that sweeping tariffs ordered by President Donald Trump will raise prices, Soria was calm. “I don’t let what’s out there affect me. Anxiety and fear mongering are real,” she said. But she acknowledged that tariffs will “impact us, it’s going to trickle down, especially with houses and construction.”

Soria and her family weathered the COVID-19 pandemic by being thrifty and resourceful. “We already have that ingrained in us,” she said. If prices climb, she may join a community garden to grow food. “We’re not going to spend. We can be self-sustainable. Sometimes people pay because they don’t want to put in the work.”

The Tool Library is one resource to be more self-sustaining. “It gives you hope that people really do care,” Soria said. “Sometimes we get so caught up in the rat race we forget our humanity.”

Repair therapy

Others also felt invigorated by the Repair Fair.

Lake View residents Rebecca Shields and Matt Gerbatsch got a binocular tripod and coat zipper fixed. Shields planned to use her tripod the next day to watch piping plovers. Gerbatsch no longer has to use pliers to zip his coat.

It was their first visit to the Tool Library. The decision to repair was “not strictly financial,” Gerbatsch said. “It’s better to donate money locally to craftsmen rather than buying new.”

Tumultuous events under the current administration have felt beyond Shields’ control, but “I’m trying to control what I can, what I do with money and where I put it,” she said. That includes “supporting our local organizations, not over consuming, trying to be more mindful and intentional.”

The couple was impressed with the diversity of the Tool Library’s inventory, such as folding tables, coolers and popcorn makers that could be used for their neighborhood block party.

“We need more things like this where you can borrow and give,” said Shields, who signed up for a membership.

Tessa Vierk, executive director of the Tool Library, said it’s too early to see whether tariffs boost Repair Fair attendance.

“In general, I think it will take a lot longer for Americans to change their habits around consumption enough for repair to become a notable strategy for saving money,” she said.

But the library aims to create a “human-centric economy” that connects people and communities, Vierk said. It opened in 2019, six months before the pandemic. “People really turn to resources like this in uncertain times,” she said.

Maja and Mario Ramirez, of Avondale, were thrilled their $600 Black & Decker air filter got fixed at the fair. They bought it at Lowe’s about a year ago but no repairperson had been willing to fix it. A Repair Fair volunteer spent an hour diagnosing then replacing a busted capacitor.

Both are retired Chicago Police Department officers. Mario Ramirez was initially pessimistic about the chances of repair but came away impressed. He said he might bring his gun holster to the next fair for its leather specialist to fix.

The experience “restored our faith in humanity,” Maja Ramirez said.

Tariffs weren’t the reason they brought the filter to the Repair Fair, but the prospect of higher prices gave “more imperative to get it fixed,” Maja Ramirez said.

Other challenges are more pressing: The couple is scrambling to help their daughter attend graduate school after her Fulbright funding was frozen due to federal restructuring.

North Lawndale resident Carol Giles is a Tool Library member and has borrowed tree trimmers and other equipment for yard work and home repairs. “This is a wonderful place for people to make their environment a better place,” Giles said. They can save money and avoid buying things they don’t have the space to store, she added.

“People here have Buddha nature. It’s their karma, they’re good people,” Giles said.

Winnie Hu, of Bridgeport, waited with her daughter while her fan got fixed. Last year, she got her food processor fixed at a Repair Fair. Hu came to Chicago two years ago from Shenyang in northern China.

Tariffs are “confusing,” but she anticipates goods from China will be more expensive. Hu recently paused an online order of tea and favorite foods she can get only from her hometown because of higher prices.

The fixers

At the Repair Fair, 30 volunteers were busy fixing appliances, mending clothes and reviving kaput items. Sewing machines whirred, hammers pounded and soldering irons buzzed. Former chef Nathan Russo, of South Shore, sharpened knives.

AJ Rahm, of Logan Square, fixed earrings from India and a taffeta prom dress with a ripped bodice. “It feels good to have someone come in with a small problem they can’t fix but you can help them,” Rahm said.

The specter of higher prices could be a catalyst for people to re-evaluate what they buy, she added. “We value the new, trendy, the fast. That’s just garbage.” But the Repair Fair “demonstrates how people are trying to force a shift to thinking more consciously.”

Brian Huang and Chip Black repaired electronics, including an old pachinko machine. Black is a computer scientist and Huang is a former electrical engineer who teaches physics at Von Steuben, a high school in Albany Park.

“It’s so exciting to see a thing come to life,” Huang said of his handiwork. “People’s eyes light up.”

Adrien Desmoulin fixed the Ramirez’s air filter and has volunteered at seven Repair Fairs. Desmoulin, an electrical engineer, works at the University of Chicago’s geophysics department.

“I know how much investment goes into making one electrical component. It’s important to fix it and save it,” he said. “We have amazing resources around us.”