Household Items Fixed for Free at Community RePair Workshop
Northampton DPW’s ReUse Committee will hold the City’s first community RePair workshop on Saturday, June 10 from 1-4 PM in the Smith Vocational High School cafeteria (80 Locust Street). City residents are invited to bring a household item or two in need of repair; a crew of handy fix-it volunteers will attempt to fix it free of charge (voluntary donations accepted).
Volunteer “fixers” will be available to sharpen knives, repair bicycles, repair clothing and bags, backpacks and other heavy-duty sewing projects, fix small appliances and provide simple computer assistance (list will expand as more experts commit). Various tools and basic supplies will be available, some via a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. Some projects may require a participant to purchase additional supplies. Voluntary donations to offset other event expenses will be accepted. This is a rapidly evolving event; additional details will be posted at www.northamptonma.gov/reduce-waste.
Community repair is a sharing economy movement which promotes repair rather than replacement of durable household items. The noble act of repair, once familiar to older generations, lost popularity as inexpensive imported household goods became available in the U.S. We’ve developed unsustainable dispose and replace habits that waste Earth’s finite resources and produce vast amounts of trash. In addition to resource conservation, public awareness of repair promotes demand for repair skills, services and parts, enhancing the vitality of our local economy.
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Partial list repair projects we anticipate being able to help with:
- Basic bicycle repair
- Rope repair
- Basic sewing repair
- Basic furniture repair
- Knife and garden tool sharpening
- Glue projects
- Small appliance repair
- Mac/PC hardware diagnostics & repair
- Printer troubleshooting & repair
- Electric motor diagnosis
- Repair broken power cords/cables
- Minor jewelry repair
Please note that this is the first time we have held this type of event. There is no way to predict how many people will attend. Like our other events, it is volunteer-powered. Bring 1 or 2 items for repair and a healthy dose of patience and good humor...we’ll offer interesting people, light refreshments, music, and an invigorating people-helping-people vibe!
If you have repair expertise and would like to join our team of volunteer "Fixers", please call Susan at 413-587-1059.