SOMERS, N.Y. - Instead of consigning broken lamps, unstrung necklaces, and dull knives to the trash heap, eco-minded folks got the chance recently to give their household items a second chance at life.
Spirited volunteers, skilled artisans, and grateful clients gathered in April at the Somers Library for the town’s very first Repair Café, part of a grassroots movement that aims to reduce waste and overconsumption.
Flo Brodley, a member of the Somers Energy and Environment Committee, the free event’s organizers, was “very pleased” with the turnout.
“It was such a success that I think we may try again in the fall,” she said.
It was but one of many Earth Week happenings in the town. Highlights included E-Waste Recycling Day at Somers Intermediate School, a hiking safety program at Rhinoceros Creek Reservation, a plant and tree tour at Lasdon Public Gardens, and talks on clean energy and “coyote coexistence” at the library.
EXCHANGE OF IDEAS
Besides being vehicles for community and camaraderie, Repair Cafés are educational.
Personal stories and skill sets are shared.
The owners of the objects may not always walk away with a perfectly repaired toaster, but at least they will have gained a better understanding of how their stuff actually works.
That could give them the confidence to try fixing things themselves the next time something goes awry.
The repair coaches get a lot out of it, too.
Richard Kreisberg has been fixing things ever since he started working in his family’s hardware store in the Bronx.
Lamp repair may be intimidating to some, but to the retired radio engineer it’s pretty simple.
“If you touch the wires together and it doesn’t explode, you know you did the right thing,” he joked.
Kreisberg now volunteers at a thrift shop in White Plains. A couple of years ago, a customer there told him about the Repair Café movement. He was intrigued, so he joined up.
“They’re fun for me. I always learn something,” he said, adding that he loves hearing the stories attached to some of the old lamps people bring to him.
Lamps can be made out of a variety of obsolete objects -- a rotary dial phone, a fire call box, an antique milk jug -- basically anything that can be fitted with two wires and a socket.
Kreisberg’s not a fan of overly complicated electronics.
“Now you can turn a lamp on from the middle of the country. Who needs to do that?” he asked incredulously.
At the next table, Robert Wilson was deftly replacing two defunct switches in a vintage glass lamp for Ernie, who declined to give his last name.
When asked if he did this kind of stuff for a living, Wilson joshed: “This is just for fun. I’d be eating cabbage if I did this for a living.”
(He actually works in radio systems for Westchester County.)
When this reporter ventured that cabbage was healthy, Wilson quipped: “Yeah, but you’d get tired of it after a while.”
Wilson also wondered why there seemed to be very few young people bringing in things to be fixed.
“Eh, the junk they make today, a lot of it you can throw away,” Ernie guessed.
“Alright, here’s the magic moment,” said Wilson as he plugged the lamp in, lighting up a smile on Ernie’s face.
THROWAWAY CULTURE COMBATTED
Allison Rubin was also making people happy with her expert jewelry repairs.
One of them involved taking a damaged four-strand necklace and cleverly converting it into a three-strand piece and – bonus! – a bracelet.
The most unusual job she undertook that day was repairing previous – and still used -- rosary beads that had once belonged to the owner’s great-grandmother.
At the sewers table, Emilia Liteplo was tackling tattered T-shirts and hole-ridden sweaters. The only thing that flummoxed her was a zipper that simply wouldn’t cooperate.
Linda Neira was keeping her company.
In their downtime, the two toiled away on beautifully crocheted blankets destined to be donated to nursing home residents, hospital patients, seniors, and newborn infants.
Meanwhile, Marty Cammarata was doing a brisk business at his knife-sharpening station.
He and his wife, Jill, are both serious foodies and chefs.
They got into cooking while living in France and Italy. Once back home in the U.S., they decided to treat themselves to an updated, professional-level kitchen.
“So we have all the accoutrements, especially knives,” Cammarata said, adding that they maintain them by using a whetstone and other specialized tools.
Carolyn Rezckalla’s was getting one of her beloved blades a tune-up.
“What’s the purpose of having a sharp knife?” a reporter asked, somewhat naively.
“So I don’t hurt myself, ha!” she laughed.
Another (anonymous) client had kidded that his wife had sent him to the café with a large butcher knife that had been too dull to properly stab him with, the reporter told her.
“Oh, I don’t want to stab anybody with it, I just want to get through my vegetables,” Rezckalla assured Cammarata as he tested her knife’s cutting ability by slicing a piece of paper.
Jeri Bennett brought in her mother’s antique jewelry box and a piece of bling that her sister had picked up while in Israel.
The box’s wonky flap was made usable, but the necklace, while repaired, really needed to go back to its place of origin to be properly evaluated, she was told.
Nevertheless, Bennett was “very happy.”
Noticing that her husband, Randy, was dangling the bagged-up box a little less than delicately, she playfully warned him: “Don’t swing that around; it’s older than you!”
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