Repair Cafe returns to Wellesley

Repair Cafe.  Toss it - no way!

Wondering what do you do with:

• a broken lamp?
• a clock?
• pants with a split seam?
• a dull knife?
• a chair that is unglued?
• a broken vacuum?

Fix it at the Repair Cafe!

After many successful Repair Café events, the Rotary Club of Wellesley is holding a forth Café at the Wellesley Recreation Center on April 6th from 10:00 AM to 1PM.

Click on read more below for repair cafe rules and to register for the event.

Repair Cafés are free meeting places and they’re all about repairing things (together).  At the Café, attendees find tools, materials to make most repairs, and volunteer coaches ready to help fix broken items. 

Repair Café House Rules

• The work carried out in the Repair Café is performed free of charge on a voluntary basis by the repair experts at hand.
  
• Visitors carry out the repairs themselves whenever possible, but repair experts on site can help if necessary.
  
• The fact that the repairs are being performed by unpaid volunteers reflects the allocation of risks and limitation of liability. Neither the organizers of the Repair Café nor the repair experts are liable for any loss that may result from advice or instructionsconcerning repairs, for the loss of items handed over for repair, for indirect or consequential loss or for any other kind of loss resulting from work performed in the Repair Café.
  
• The limitations set forth in these house rules shall not apply to claims declared justified on the basis of liability arising by virtue of applicable consumer protection legislation which cannot be lawfully superseded.
  
• A voluntary donation is greatly appreciated.
  
• Any use of new materials such as leads, plugs, fuses, ready-made knee bends 
or applications will be paid for separately.
  
• Visitors offering broken items for repair do so at their own risk.
  
• Experts making repairs offer no guarantee for the repairs carried out with their help and are not liable if objects that are repaired in the Repair Café turn out not to work properly at home.
  
• Repair experts are entitled to refuse to repair certain objects.
  
• Repair experts are not obliged to reassemble disassembled appliances that cannot be repaired.
  
• Visitors to Repair Café are solely responsible for the tidy removal of broken objects that could not be repaired.
  
• To cut down on unnecessary waiting times during busy periods, a maximum of ONE broken item per person will be examined. The visitor will join the back of the queue if there is a second item for repair.
  

Why a Repair Café?
We throw away vast amounts of stuff.  Even things with almost nothing wrong, and which could get a new lease on life after a simple repair.  The trouble is, lots of people have forgotten that they can repair things themselves or they no longer know how.  Knowing how to make repairs is a skill quickly lost.  Society doesn’t always show much appreciation for the people who still have this practical knowledge, and against their will they are often left standing on the sidelines.  Their experience is never used, or hardly ever.  The Repair Café changes all that!  People who might otherwise be sidelined are getting involved again.  Valuable practical knowledge is getting passed on.  Things are being used for longer and don’t have to be thrown away.

This reduces the volume of raw materials and energy needed to make new products.  It cuts CO2 emissions, for example, because manufacturing new products and recycling old ones causes CO2 to be released.  The Repair Café teaches people to see their possessions in a new light and, once again, to appreciate their value.  The Repair Café helps change people’s mindset.  This is essential to kindle people’s enthusiasm for a sustainable society.  Most of all, the Repair Café wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy it often is.

Why don’t you give it a go?
To register, go here or to the Rotary web site www.wellesleyrotary.org. The Rotary Club of Wellesley is one of Wellesley’s oldest community service groups and conducts local programs to benefit the Town of Wellesley.   Please check the web site www.wellesleyrotary.org for times and location.  The public is always invited to any Rotary program.   Please make a reservation on their web site’s calendar or call 781-591-0759 to speak with one of the board members.A buffet meal is available for $30.00. When making a reservation, please indicate if you will have the meal in the comment section of the registration.