The Coalition for a Sustainable Cheshire is bringing back the Repair Café, a community event that connects local volunteers who possess skills in repairing household items with residents who need items repaired or maintained. This year, CSC is partnering with the Cheshire Chamber of Commerce as part of their Home, Health and Garden Show at Cheshire High School on Saturday, March 25, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (The Repair Café will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at noon.)
The overall objective of the Repair Café is to keep broken household items out of landfills and to highlight the talents of local residents and, in some cases, businesses who provide repairs or services that improve the functioning or appearance of everyday household belongings.
Do you need buttons replaced, rips mended, or hems adjusted? Do you have a broken lamp or malfunctioning vacuum cleaner? Do you have a necklace that needs polishing or a jewelry clasp that needs tightening? Perhaps you have garden tools that need sharpening. Local resident Harold Jordan will be able to help with sharpening those tools, and Don Walsh of DW Gem Services will be on hand to clean jewelry or help change watch batteries. Joanna Miller will be ready with her sewing machine to repair rips in your favorite shirt, and Greg Wolff and Jim Jinks will patch that deflated bike tube.
Last year, volunteer Bill Agli was so successful and inspired by the Repair Café that he began his own business, Mister Fix This! He will be available again this year.
Volunteers will not have parts on hand, so attendees will need to bring their own replacement batteries, buttons, and other machine parts. Come early in case you need to run out to find that needed part so the repair volunteers can help out. Rotary Club volunteers will also be on hand to assist and guide residents during the Repair Café.
CSC is still seeking volunteers, so if you are interested or have general questions, email sustainablecheshire@gmail.com or visit www.sustainablecheshire.org.