I come from a family of stuff-savers. I still have the fly rod my grandfather bought me in 1977 (it's missing a ferrule), a 40-year-old Raleigh bike I bought on a whim, and somewhere a few flip phones in a Tupperware. And aside from those flip phones, which I always forget about when it's time to toss e-trash, I hang onto stuff for the “someday” I'll get it working again.
Repair Café events—which have become a regular occurrence in Mahopac, Yorktown and other surrounding towns—can make that someday today (or Saturday, because that's when they're held).
A Repair Café is a free community event where Sustainable Putnam volunteers help residents fix household items and learn basic maintenance skills in the process. Mahopac Cafés are held on the second Saturday of March, June, September and December from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with other events held in Kent and Putnam Valley.
Yorktown's next Repair Café is set for Jan. 17 at Grace Lutheran Church on the corner of Gomer and Curry Streets., very close to the intersection of Curry, Route 6 and East Main Street.
You don't have to live in the hosting town to show up with your stuff.
Similarly, Sustainable Hudson Valley sponsors Yorktown's Café. Overall, the organizations say more than 7,000 items and counting have been saved from the landfill. Even better, they're serving a purpose in somebody's home.
Having attended a couple of the Cafés at Yorktown's Grace Lutheran Church, I've been amazed by the array of items people bring in—from old clothes to appliances, vintage audio, computers, clocks, lamps and, in my case, a bike with severely underworking brakes.
It's like an “Antiques Roadshow” episode where the prize is going home with something that works again.
I rode my bike down there like a kid except that at my age, I was way more worried about the dodgy brakes—and rode it home as the sober late-middle-ager I am, feeling safe on the road. I didn't have to close my eyes and hope for the best one time.
As great as it is to know I'll be able to stop on the bike path without running over someone's dog, the main thing I took away from the Cafés I've attended is the sense of community. Some of the volunteers I spoke with are retired experts in their respective fields, like a carpenter who was helping people decide whether to fix small household items. Some are just enthusiasts who've made themselves experts in their hobby. All are people who lend their time because they care about reducing waste.
I stuck around long enough to see clothing revived, a vacuum cleaner working, an electric kettle fixed, some vintage audio gear reborn and more.
Like “Roadshow,” not everything gets a happy ending. Sometimes the problem is too difficult or expensive to fix. But for those of us who don't know when to toss things (the 2004 duct-taped PowerBook I recently pulled out of a storage bin comes to mind), getting an objective diagnosis by someone who believes in keeping old gear working is a win anyway.
If they say it's time to say goodbye, it probably is.
Mahopac's Repair Café is organized by Sustainable Putnam. The next one is at Mahopac Middle School (425 Baldwin Place Rd.) this Saturday, Nov. 13. It's free. Walk-ins are welcome, but pre-registration is recommended.
Kent also hosts regular Repair Cafés at Arts on the Lake (640 Route 52, Kent Lakes). Sustainable Putnam is seeking volunteers to help with setup, check-ins, refreshments and repair coaching.
Learn more and sign up at https://sustainableputnam.org/repair-cafe/
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