Well, this next story may change the way you look at what you throw away, and the value we often overlook.

What started in Amsterdam as a simple idea, don't toss it, fix it, has grown into a global movement.

Carolina Impact's Chris Clark takes us to a local repair cafe where broken items become opportunities for learning, sharing, and connection.

- [Chris] They come with toasters, picture frames, jewelry, chairs that wobbled just enough to annoy, but not enough to throw away.

- Tabletop clock, and it's not working when you put a battery in it.

- [Chris] Hundreds make the trip carrying things they just couldn't quite give up on.

- There is a dancing Santa that we have had since our oldest son was born, and he doesn't dance anymore because our youngest son knocked him off the shelf.

- [Chris] That's why she brought it here to the repair cafe.

- It originally started in the Netherlands.

So it's a global concept, and the idea of sharing community knowledge, and community tools, and community skills to help keep items repaired and in circulation and out of the landfill.

- [Chris] What comes through the door is as varied as the people carrying it.

- Antique cuckoo clocks.

- He's got a small stone grinder, - Turkey hat that has Christmas lights on it.

- [Chris] Ask anyone why they brought something here and the answer usually starts somewhere else.

- This was a wedding gift to my wife and I 29 years ago.

My wife loves to bake.

She makes marshmallows every year for the holidays.

Cookies, cakes.

- A lady brought in her VHS player, which had a VHS tape in it.

The VHS tape held videos of their child at two years old, and their house had burnt down and that was the only thing they had left.

- [Chris] The people doing the fixing are volunteers.

Around here, they're called coaches.

- I like to just kind of think of myself as a hobbyist, and I just wanna help people keep their memories and jewelry for as long as possible.

- [Chris] It's easy to picture a room of engineers, but the backgrounds here are as varied as the repairs.

- I am an operations manager.

- The Director of NC Cooperative Extension.

- I'm a physical therapist.

- [Chris] And some of the volunteers don't work with tools at all.

(sonorous cello music) - I am a private music teacher and also soloist.

My main instrument is cello.

I like shiny things and I'm gonna fix shiny things.

Didn't give myself enough slack.

- [Chris] Some repairs are about finesse.

- I'm restringing it for her so she can wear it again for the first time in years.

- [Chris] Others are about leverage, which by the way, how's that mixer coming along?

(hammer pounding) We'll come back to that.

But while we wait, how about those jeans?

- Because it has that material backing already, it's nice and sturdy.

- [Chris] The repair is what you see, but what matters just as much happens in the moments around it.

- There you go.

That's a good one, yep.

- People aren't taught home-ec.

People aren't taught shop.

People aren't focused on that anymore, so they don't have those skills, and that's what Repair Cafe is here for.

- It's to inspire skills within you to be able to repair your own items.

So the theory is that you would be able to go home and feel a little bit more confident about working on the next project - And it'll get hot without the plate.

- This is fascinating.

It's like art.

I mean it's science, but it's art too.

- Gave me some insight in to be creative at home with what I have, and maybe try some other things, try to fix some other things on my own.

- [Chris] That is the moment we're waiting for.

Which, by the way, do we have an update on that turkey hat?

- Unfortunately, it's got corroded from batteries leaking.

- [Chris] Keep at it, because when hundreds of items come through the door, not all of them make it back, but most do, and when they do, there's a photo to celebrate the moment.

- It means something to them, you know?

And it's just wonderful to be able to fix things, which I love to do, and help people, which I love to do.

What could be better?

- The ability to see something that isn't functioning, either at all and make it work, as well as, you know, making the world a better place.

- [Chris] Before everyone packs up, one last check on that Turkey hat.

- Yay!

Thank you, Tom.

- [Chris] Almost forgot about that mixer.

Will mom be able to make those cakes this year?

(mixer whirring) Sometimes fixing one small thing changes how you approach the next.

- We have a winner, ladies, and gentlemen.

- [Chris] For Carolina Impact, I'm Chris Clark.