A broken lamp, a ripped jacket or a toaster that suddenly quits usually ends up in the trash.

At The Makers Hub in Compton, it ends up on a workbench instead.

The nonprofit hosts free community repair clinics, where residents bring in broken belongings and learn to fix them with help from skilled volunteer repair coaches.

Clothing, small appliances, furniture, electronics and household items are all fair game.

The key difference is that the coaches do not simply fix things for you.

They teach you how to do it yourself.

That approach is the whole point.

One attendee who rewired an antique lamp said what she valued most was learning the steps from someone experienced, and leaving with the confidence to do it again on her own.

Another resident said seeing appliances that would normally be thrown away come back to life changed how she thinks about broken things.

Sometimes the repair means far more than money.

One participant described bringing in a music box from her late father, and how hearing it play again made her feel like he was right beside her.

The clinics are built on a simple economic idea.

In a city where household budgets are stretched, every item repaired is one that does not need to be replaced.

Organizers frame the program as a way to fight income inequality by keeping money in residents' pockets and helping wealth stay in the community.

There is an environmental payoff, too.

Repair keeps usable items out of landfills and supports a circular economy built on fixing and reusing rather than buying new.

For a community that has long dealt with more than its share of industrial and waste burdens, that matters.

The Makers Hub developed its clinics with guidance from Peter Mui, founder of the Fixit Clinic movement, which has helped spread do-it-yourself repair events across the country.

The clinics fit naturally alongside the organization's tool library, where members can borrow more than 1,000 tools, and its makerspace workshops.

Together, they form a full cycle of learning: borrow the tool, learn the skill and fix the thing.

The next free clinic is scheduled for Sunday, October 18, from noon to 3 p.m. at The Makers Hub, 2125 West Compton Boulevard.

Residents should bring the broken item, any parts or accessories that go with it, and a willingness to get hands-on.

Not every repair will succeed, but every attempt teaches something new.

The organization is also looking for volunteers who know how to sew, solder, rewire or troubleshoot, and who enjoy teaching others.

Volunteering as a repair coach is one of the most direct ways to share a skill with neighbors.

In a throwaway culture, these clinics offer something quietly radical.

A place to slow down, fix what you have and walk out a little more capable than when you walked in.