Repair Café on April 9 was a hit, and at the SWCA Annual Meeting on June 7,  many people expressed a desire for a reprise.  We’re talking with our collaborator Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation about doing it again this coming November or December.

Repairs made included:

• 6 lamps
• 2 vacuum cleaners
• Sharpened 8 knives, 3 pairs of scissors, 1 axe
• 1 Bicycle Repair
• 2 Sewing Machine mends were done
• 3 wood working items repaired
• 1 wool sock darned

Although there were only about 25 people, most of our 19 volunteers brought things to be fixed, too, so volunteer fixers and advisers stayed busy.  Special thanks to fixers Mark Thaisz, Tony Pisano, Steve Nelson, Wayne Olivieri, James and John from Kapiloff Glass, Marianne Nelson who brought her sewing machine, Judy Summers who brought her darning egg, Maija Lindaas of the Purple Bike Coaltion as well as our advisers  veterinarian Dr. Katie Wolfgang, lawyer Stephen Pagnotta, genealogist Bart Saxbe, Pam Burger of the Williamstown Council on Aging, Katie Case who brought her knitting needles, realtor Carolyn Umlauf, gardener Robin Lenz, Van Ellet who advised on long-term care and health insurance for seniors, not to mention Matt Baya and Todd Noyes, who were constantly busy helping people with computer issues.  Oh, and let’s not forget our welcome desk and refreshment volunteers:  Claudia Ellet, Mickey Thaisz, Melissa Cragg, Bette Craig, and Alice Hadley.

Repair Café is an international network and in recent months, several European Repair Café organizers have gotten refugees involved to help repair items at meetings.