* Bolton Repair Cafe sponsored by Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley

Bolton Repair Cafe sponsored by Rotary Club of
Nashoba Valley set for September 29

Purpose is to offer free household-goods repair to the public

Needed parts will be charged at cost

September 7, 2018, Bolton, MA - What do you do with a broken toaster or lamp? Or, a shirt or blouse with a ripped-out seam? Toss it? No way! Bring them to the Bolton Repair Café.

Nashoba Valley and Repair Cafe logo

The Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, with support from Bolton Local and the Repair Cafe Foundation, is hosting the next Bolton Repair Café on Saturday, September 29, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Come help celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Bolton Repair Café, to be held in the cafeteria at the Florence Sawyer School, at 100 Mechanic St. in Bolton. The school is located behind the Emerson School, which is on the same driveway/street. Residents of Bolton and surrounding towns are invited to come and find out what a Repair Café is all about.

At a Repair Café, everything centers on making repairs. Knowledgeable volunteers will help repair items such as clean and mendable clothing, knitted and crocheted items, lamps, small appliances, computers and other electronics, bikes, outdoor power equipment, toys, and jewelry. They can also sharpen knives, scissors, and garden tools. You pay only for needed parts. If you know what parts are needed, please get them ahead of time and bring them to the Repair Café, to save time.

Repair Cafe photo

Volunteers at the Repair Café will look at all items brought in, and help try to repair them. When the volunteers cannot repair something that is repairable, they will offer suggestions about where to go for repairs.

Unlike a "fix-it" shop, where people drop off items to be repaired and continue about their day, the Repair Café is meant to get people involved with the repair process, and create connections with others in the community. People bringing in items for repair are asked to stay while their items are being fixed. They can just watch, help with the repair, fix the items themselves with help from volunteers, or just have a snack and visit with neighbors.

The Nashoba Valley club will continue its activity for kids at this event. Bring your children or your grandchildren, so they can work on taking something apart at the supervised take-apart table, to see how it works. Putting things back together and fixing things is not expected.

Promoting repairs will help reduce mountains of waste. According to Repair Cafe organizer Ray Pfau, a member of the Nashoba Valley club, "We throw away lots of things that often have almost nothing wrong with them, things that could easily be used again after a simple repair. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can fix things. Repair Café wants to change all that."
Repair Cafe photo

The Repair Café is also meant to put neighbors in touch with each other in a new way. Neighbors may discover that a lot of know-how and practical skills can be found close to home. Pfau notes, "When you repair a bike, a CD player, or a pair of trousers with previously unfamiliar neighbors, you look at them in a different light the next time you see them. Jointly making repairs can lead to connections in the community. Making repairs can also save money and resources."

The Repair Café Foundation has been organizing Repair Cafés since 2009 in the Netherlands, and has provided support since 2011 to local groups in and outside the Netherlands wanting to start their own Repair Cafés. Bolton has been holding Repair Cafés since 2013.

Repair Cafés and Fixit Clinics are springing up in the local area:

The Rotary Club of Littleton, with help from the Littleton Sustainability Committee, will hold a Repair Café on Saturday, September 15 in Littleton.
A Fixit Clinic will be held on Saturday, September 22 at Lena Park in Dorchester.
The Rotary Club of Westborough, with help from the Westborough Public Library, will hold a Repair Café on Saturday, September 22 in Westborough.
The Society of Women Engineers will hold a Repair Café on Saturday, September 22 at UMass Lowell.
The Northborough Junior Women's Club will hold a Repair Café on Saturday, October 13 in Northborough.
The Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, with help from the Sudbury Council on Aging and the Sudbury Historical Society, will hold a Repair Café on Saturday, October 20 in Sudbury.

For a calendar of all upcoming Repair Cafe and Fixit events in Massachusetts, visit
BoltonLocal.org/initiatives/repair-cafe.
For more information on the Bolton Repair Cafe, contact Ray Pfau at 978-779-5545 or ray.pfau@alum.mit.edu.

For more information on the Sudbury Repair Cafe, contact Howard Kendall, also a member of the Nashoba Valley club, at 312-501-0804 or howard.kendall@comcast.net.

* Bolton Repair Cafe sponsored by Rot...

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