If there ever was a slogan for Pound Ridge’s latest Repair Café, it would be: Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
The proverb – coined during the Great Depression – focuses on frugality and resourcefulness.
With that in mind, folks flocked to Conant Hall on the first day of spring – the season of renewal and rebirth – with beloved but broken or battered items they hoped could be saved.
(Or, if not, at least given a decent burial.)
Whether it was a clock that had lost its tick-tock, a vintage lamp that would no longer light, an heirloom pearl necklace that'd come unstrung, or a favorite jacket whose stitches were unraveling, there was almost nothing that flummoxed the Café’s determined platoon of fixers.
The historic building was a cheerful beehive of creativity, camaraderie, and environmental consciousness as the volunteer coaches deployed skills and techniques that were once commonplace but are now rarely practiced or taught in a world of planned obsolescence.
The town’s building inspector was even on hand to review building and remodeling plans so folks could avoid costly mistakes down the road.
Needless to say, his was a VERY popular station that sunny Saturday in March.
There were also snacks, crafts, and a table of useful information from the Pound Ridge Conservation Board.
And it was all free.
But the best part was hearing the stories attached to the stuff people brought in.
Here is just some of what this reporter was able to glean:
Fox Lane High School senior Alex Wolf-Cynamon was hard at work alongside his father, Scott.
Some of the things on their table that day were a music box, a lamp, a vacuum cleaner, and a blender.
Alex was four when the repair bug bit.
Discovering that he loved taking his toys apart and then putting them back together again, he would beg his parents for tools.
“I never wanted to go to Toys ‘R’ Us. Us, I always wanted to go to Home Depot,” Alex recalled.
His brother, Ben, is also very handy.
“It runs in the family,” said their proud pop, who’s in the recycling biz.
A few feet away, at another table, Peggy Kerner, Bonnie Rodgers, and Suzie Fromer were busy fixing jewelry.
Fromer, who coordinates nearly 80 Repair Cafés in New York state, admits that April, aka Earth Month, can get “a little crazy.”
The pandemonium is worth it.
“We don’t always know what’s going to walk in the door, which is kind of the fun part for us,” she said, adding that the Cafés aren’t “drop-off events.”
Although people can now go on YouTube to learn stuff, there’s nothing like sitting with a real person and sharing not only skills, but experiences.
It was the first time for Rachel Radcliffe, who'd brought in a silver necklace that'd been a gift from a “dear, dear friend.”
She feared it could not be repaired. When Suzie did, Radcliffe was shocked.
“I’m SO happy,” she said, clutching her revived treasure.
Peter Avellino was fixing the chain on a girl’s pink bike.
Mechanically inclined as a kid, he used to run around the neighborhood rescuing bicycle parts from the trash and then selling them.
That morphed into a small repair business. Now the accountant just does it for fun.
“I’m not certain I want to make a career out of this. If I did, I might not enjoy it as much," Avellino chuckled.
Denis Harrington, cradling his 15-year-old Vitamix, warned this reporter that there might not be much of a story because he was “probably going to be walking out in a couple of minutes.”
It was working but occasionally making ear-splitting errrr-errrr noises.
Alas, it was something Scott Cynamon wasn’t equipped to fix that day, but he was able to scout out the maker’s contact information for Harrington, who walked away with the determined look of a man on a mission.
It may just look like a piece of old kitchen equipment to some, but its demise would devastate Harrington.
He does everything with it, from grinding coffee beans to making soup, smoothies, and peanut butter.
“It’s like me. It’s been through the trenches ... and I like it,” he explained.
James Karpowich, once a bridge-building Eagle Scout and now an IT professional, had an easy-peasy fix for Barbara Wright’s defunct clock – a battery.
Her umbrella was a different story.
After lots of frustrating tinkering with its wonky runner – the bit that opens and closes the ribs – Karpowich was about to give up when things mysteriously snapped into place.
(This reporter reminded them that, to the superstitious, opening an umbrella inside is bad luck.)
Meanwhile, Ann Gastrich was waiting to get the straps of her well-loved kitchen aprons sewn back on. She and her husband, Bernie, both love to cook—although lately he’s been assigned as a “sous chef" who chops veggies and peels apples for homemade pies.
When not in the kitchen, the couple fosters dogs for “Puppies Behind Bars,” a program at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Inmates there train service dogs, but since its “not the real world,” volunteers are needed to acclimate the pups to the outside, explained Gastrich, who ferries her furry charges to restaurants, supermarkets, and friends’ houses.
Over in the corner – under light shining through a stained-glass window – sat Fiona Spencer intent on repairing the purple lining of a coat that reportedly had been munched on by a mouse.
The volunteer sewist remembered the gentleman who came in bearing a pair of old sweatpants that’d been heading for the donation bin.
Their only issue was that its inside seams had unraveled. He couldn’t put anything in his pockets.
Spencer quickly stitched them up. The grateful man went away wearing a huge smile.
“It’s more than just the thing itself. It’s whatever it is that makes an item so special enough to someone that they’d want to fix it rather than throw it away,” she said, adding: “That’s why I do this.”
A building inspector, deputy fire chief, and carpenter, Jim Perry was flattered when first asked to participate in the Café.
He demurred then that he'd absolutely zero repair skills, but did have something valuable to offer – knowledge and problem-solving abilities.
Now Perry fields questions about local regulations, state codes, and other stuff Pound Ridge folks hoping to build – or to improve existing properties – should know.
He also does this as part of his day job and thinks it's important that people are armed with the right information before they plow ahead and waste loads of dough.
The first time he volunteered, Perry figured he’d only get a couple of nibbles. Instead, he was “swamped.” On Saturday, he’d helped at least 15 folks.
The depth and breadth of everyone's expertise and dedication "amazes" him.
Perry had arrived wearing his beat-up but cherished fire jacket when one of the sewing circle noticed a hole. He was both thrilled and relieved to have her fix it.
“I can build you a house," Perry admitted, "but I can’t sew a button on.”
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