First Finger Lakes Repair Café to take place in Montour Falls

MONTOUR FALLS, N.Y. ( WETM ) – Sustainable Montour Falls will be hosting Schuyler County’s first-ever Repair Café next weekend to localize an international movement that began in 2009.

The first Finger Lakes Repair Café will take place on Saturday, April 20, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Montour Falls Fire Department on 111 Lee Street. The event is a pop-up event that encourages repairing items instead of throwing them out.

At the event, volunteer repair coaches will be available to fix items brought in by the community. General repairs of brought-in items are offered free-of-charge with some replacement parts that are offered at little-to-no cost.

The most common items brought in for repairs include lamps, vacuums and small appliances, but mechanical and wooden items, textiles, jewelry, bikes and computers are also possible repairs offered.

If you plan on bringing an item in to be fixed, it’s helpful to email Sustainable Montour Falls with what you will be bringing, but this isn’t necessary. Walk-ins are also welcome at the event.

Repair coaches will fix one item per person, but guests can sign in again with another item after their first one is fixed. All items that are brought to the event must be removed whether it was able to be fixed or not.

If any item is too bulky to bring with you, you can take a picture of it and a repair coach will try to suggest how to fix it yourself at home.

Any broken or detached pieces on an item should be brought in along with a manual.

If you’re interested in participating in the event as a repair coach or helping out with the event, you can contact Sustainable Montour Falls at sustainablemontourfalls1@gmail.com.

In addition to having volunteers fix household items for members of the community, volunteers from Almosta Apiary will be at the event with information about beekeeping, as well as volunteers from C.E. DeRusha Masonry, who will teach homeowners how to make repairs themselves and what to look for if they need to hire a contractor.

Narcan and Naloxone training and education will also be available through the Finger Lakes Area Counseling & Recovery Agency.

Another Repair Café will take place locally on June 1 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Valois Logan Fire Department located at 5736 State Route 414 in Hector.

For more information about the international Repair Café movement, you can visit its website to learn more.

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