All Over Albany

Repair Cafe Schenectady returns

The Schenectady County Public Library will again be hosting a Repair Café this Saturday. Repair Café? Blurbage:

Repair Café is a neighborhood initiative that promotes repair as an alternative to tossing things out. At a Repair Café, community members can bring their broken but cherished items to be fixed on the spot, for free, with the help of volunteer repair coaches.

Examples of some of the items you can bring to be fixed include: small electric appliances (especially lamps and vacuums,) furniture/wooden objects, clothing/textiles, Dolls/toys, jewelry, watches/clocks, ceramics and general mechanical (small items only, no gas powered machines.)

There is a limit of two items for repair per household.

At the library's first Repair Café over 80 beloved items were repaired. "Many of the things that are fixed have deep emotional meaning to the people who bring them in. We don't just fix treasures-- we sometimes mend broken hearts, too" says Repair Café Schenectady founder Dave West.

The Schenectady Repair Cafe is this Saturday, July 21 from 10 am-2 pm at the central library on Clinton Street in downtown Schenectady. It's free. (And if you'd like to volunteer as a repair coach, email Dave West: westfir50 |at| gmail.com.)

The Repair Cafe idea started in the Netherlands and has since spread around the world. Including a few other spots around the Capital Region:

+ The village of Castleton has been holding a Repair Cafe roughly once a month. Its next one is August 10 from 4:30-7:30 pm at the Castleton-on-Hudson Farmers & Artisan Market at the corner of Scott and Main. (Village Hall is the rain location.)

+ There was a Repair Cafe at the Saratoga Springs Public Library June 16. Keep an eye on the Sustainable Saratoga Facebook page.

As we've said before, learning how to fix something is a great feeling. The sound of a broken refrigerator whirring back to life or the coffee maker burbling again is the sound of accomplishment.