Cambridge Repair Cafe Event

Cambridge Repair Café Event

Do you have a chair with a loose leg, a toaster that no longer works, or even a sweater with moth holes? Don’t throw it away! You can repair it at the Cambridge Repair Café event on Saturday, September 27, from 10am-2pm at the Cambridge Community Center, located at 5 Callender Street. The event is free and is open to the general public. It’s also a great way to receive expert advice on repairs, meet other residents in the area, be inspired, and save money by fixing your item for FREE! Tools and materials will also be on hand. People visiting the Repair Café will bring along their broken items from home. Toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, bikes, toys, crockery... anything that is broken is welcome. And can more than likely be repaired. The specialists in Repair Café almost always have the know-how.

By promoting repairs, we can help reduce mountains of waste. This is absolutely necessary, according to Ms. Randi Mail, Recycling Director. "We throw away piles of stuff, even things which practically have nothing wrong with them, which could easily be used again after a simple repair. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can have things repaired. Repair Café wants to change all that."

Repair Café is also meant to put neighbors in touch with each other in a new way and to discover that a lot of know-how and practical skills can be found close to home. "If you repair a bike, a CD player or a pair of pants together with a previously unfamiliar neighbor, you look at that person in a different light the next time you run into them on the street. Jointly making repairs can lead to pleasant contacts in the neighborhood," added Ms. Mail.

The Cambridge Repair Café is a joint project of the Cambridge Department of Public Works, Cambridge Recycling Advisory Committee, Cambridge Public Schools Office of Sustainability, Green Cambridge, Cambridge Community Development Department, Cambridge Community Center, and more.

The Repair Café concept arose in Amsterdam, where the Repair Café Foundation (see RepairCafe.Org) has regularly been organizing gatherings since 2010. Since January 2011, the foundation has provided support to local groups in and outside the Netherlands wishing to start their own Repair Café, including this event in Cambridge MA.