On November 2, 2024, Madison held its second Repair Cafe. Sponsored by the Madison Rotary Club and hosted by Grace Church, forty-two volunteer repairers and coordinators did two hundred free repairs for 155 visitors from Madison and surrounding towns. About 175 of the repairs were successful!
On November 2, 2024, Madison held its second Repair Cafe. Sponsored by the Madison Rotary Club and hosted by Grace Church, forty-two volunteer repairers and coordinators did two hundred free repairs for 155 visitors from Madison and surrounding towns. About 175 of the repairs were successful!
The Repair Cafe movement started in The Netherlands in 2009 and has spread worldwide in recent years. The goal of Repair Cafe is to help people realize that most items are indeed repairable, and to help them see how the repairs can be done. This returns useful and beloved items to workable condition and keeps these items from ending up in landfills.
At the Madison event on November 2 the items that were fixed ranged from bicycles to torn jeans, wobbly wooden chairs, and misbehaving computers. By far the most popular items at this event were knives in need of sharpening (for Thanksgiving?), and lamps needing new sockets, cords, and other repairs. Our repair stations included: Jewelry, Wooden Things, Bikes, Lamps, Tech, Sharpening, Clothing and Fabrics, and Miscellaneous. Under Miscellaneous the items included clocks, watches needing new batteries, a bird feeder, garden tools, broken ceramics, golf carts, pencil sharpeners, coffee grinders, and much more. Sometimes repairs couldn’t be completed because of not having a part on hand, but in most cases the repair experts found a way to “get it done.”
Some interesting repairs from Saturday:
1. A Repair Cafe customer hung a bird feeder from a "sheepshank" steel rod to defend it from squirrels. A bear came by, bent the 3/8” solid steel shank out of shape, and ate the feed. Lacking access to a large vise at the Repair Cafe, the repair expert bent it back into shape using a crack in the sidewalk.
2. Our repair team was excited when a woman brought over a “bag of radio!” She had taken it apart to see if she could repair it herself. Luckily, when dumped out, all the parts were there, and some strategically placed super-glue was all that was needed to restore the broken volume control on the now fully assembled radio.
3. One of our repairers reported on an interesting lamp. “One in particular was a very large and “Italian” looking lamp - the Capodimonte of lamps. I had an interesting conversation with the owner of the lamp. She was from Italy, has another lamp just like it at home, and purchased them in NYC around fifty years ago.” Needless to say, the repair was successful!
Our repair experts come from all walks of life: retirees, Rotary members, quilting club members, neighborhood handymen and handywomen, pros from local shops, Grace Church parishioners, as well as students from local schools and universities. One our newest and youngest volunteers, from Madison High School, proved to be “naturals,” performing or assisting with about twenty lamp repairs!
Organizers are always looking for repair experts and for volunteers who can help organize and run the events.
There is a growing number of Repair Cafes in the Garden State. Regardless of which town they are held in, they are open to all. Find one in a town near you by watching for notices on social media, posters around your town, or better yet, by going to RepairCafeGS.org. There you will find dates and times, as well as what specific repairs are being offered in your town’s Repair Cafe. Repairs are always free, but sometimes parts will be offered “at cost” by the organizers. Donations to support future Repair Cafes are always appreciated!
Repair Cafes are feel-good events. Things get fixed, neighbors get to use their talents to help neighbors, and smiles are all around. Come to a Repair Cafe with your broken treasures or come with your toolbox.
Paul Lemaire - Madison Repair Cafe Organizer, and Jack-of-All-Trades repairman.
The Repair Cafe movement started in The Netherlands in 2009 and has spread worldwide in recent years. The goal of Repair Cafe is to help people realize that most items are indeed repairable, and to help them see how the repairs can be done. This returns useful and beloved items to workable condition and keeps these items from ending up in landfills.
At the Madison event on November 2 the items that were fixed ranged from bicycles to torn jeans, wobbly wooden chairs, and misbehaving computers. By far the most popular items at this event were knives in need of sharpening (for Thanksgiving?), and lamps needing new sockets, cords, and other repairs. Our repair stations included: Jewelry, Wooden Things, Bikes, Lamps, Tech, Sharpening, Clothing and Fabrics, and Miscellaneous. Under Miscellaneous the items included clocks, watches needing new batteries, a bird feeder, garden tools, broken ceramics, golf carts, pencil sharpeners, coffee grinders, and much more. Sometimes repairs couldn’t be completed because of not having a part on hand, but in most cases the repair experts found a way to “get it done.”
Some interesting repairs from Saturday:
1. A Repair Cafe customer hung a bird feeder from a "sheepshank" steel rod to defend it from squirrels. A bear came by, bent the 3/8” solid steel shank out of shape, and ate the feed. Lacking access to a large vise at the Repair Cafe, the repair expert bent it back into shape using a crack in the sidewalk.
2. Our repair team was excited when a woman brought over a “bag of radio!” She had taken it apart to see if she could repair it herself. Luckily, when dumped out, all the parts were there, and some strategically placed super-glue was all that was needed to restore the broken volume control on the now fully assembled radio.
3. One of our repairers reported on an interesting lamp. “One in particular was a very large and “Italian” looking lamp - the Capodimonte of lamps. I had an interesting conversation with the owner of the lamp. She was from Italy, has another lamp just like it at home, and purchased them in NYC around fifty years ago.” Needless to say, the repair was successful!
Our repair experts come from all walks of life: retirees, Rotary members, quilting club members, neighborhood handymen and handywomen, pros from local shops, Grace Church parishioners, as well as students from local schools and universities. One our newest and youngest volunteers, from Madison High School, proved to be “naturals,” performing or assisting with about twenty lamp repairs!
Organizers are always looking for repair experts and for volunteers who can help organize and run the events.
There is a growing number of Repair Cafes in the Garden State. Regardless of which town they are held in, they are open to all. Find one in a town near you by watching for notices on social media, posters around your town, or better yet, by going to RepairCafeGS.org. There you will find dates and times, as well as what specific repairs are being offered in your town’s Repair Cafe. Repairs are always free, but sometimes parts will be offered “at cost” by the organizers. Donations to support future Repair Cafes are always appreciated!
Repair Cafes are feel-good events. Things get fixed, neighbors get to use their talents to help neighbors, and smiles are all around. Come to a Repair Cafe with your broken treasures or come with your toolbox.
Paul Lemaire - Madison Repair Cafe Organizer, and Jack-of-All-Trades repairman.