Westborough – The Westborough Public Library and the Rotary Club of Westborough are organizing the first Repair Café at the Westborough Library, 55 W. Main St., Saturday, March 19, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Knowledgeable volunteer repair experts will be available to help make all possible repairs free of charge, except for needed parts. Small appliances, vacuum cleaners, lamps, computers, clothes, bikes, toys, outdoor power equipment, and anything that is broken is welcome and can most likely be repaired. Knives, scissors, and garden tools can also be sharpened.
If you know what parts are needed, get them ahead of time and bring them to the Repair Café to save time. Unlike a “fix-it” shop where people drop off items to be repaired, people are asked to stay while their items are being fixed. You can just watch, help with the repair, fix the item yourself with help from the volunteers, or just have a snack and visit with neighbors. If the volunteers cannot repair something, they will offer suggestions about where you can go for repairs.
By promoting repairs, the Westborough Library and Westborough Rotary want to help reduce waste.
Repair Café is also meant to put neighbors in touch with each other in a new way, save money, and discover that a lot of know-how and practical skills can be found close to home. Above all, Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is.
The Repair Café concept arose in the Netherlands in 2010. For more information about Repair Café, go to www.repaircafe.org.
The Westborough Library and Rotary Club of Westborough plan to hold a Repair Café on a regular basis (approximately three times a year) at the library. For more information or to volunteer, send an email to [email protected] or call Donna Martel, adult services librarian, at 508-366-3050 or Gerry Gross, Rotary Club of Westborough, at 508-735-6141.