What's Happening in Newburyport, MA…

A Repair Café was recently held at the Newburyport Community/Senior Center.

Toward Zero Waste Newburyport worked with the Time Trade Network of Greater Newburyport (TTNGN) to hold this event, which was open to the public with no charge for attending or for the repair work. The New England Grassroots Environment Fund provided funding for the event.

There are people at such Repair Cafés who are able to fix various kinds of objects, and those who have items in need of repair. Small appliances, wooden items, jewelry, clothing, and many more items can be repaired.

Volunteers are recruited who can carry the repairs. People can have many items repaired but only one can be registered at a time. The volunteers either repair the item or consider it irreparable and then a second item can be registered.

Organizer of the event, Elizabeth Marcus, said that voluntary monetary donations for these Repair Cafés are always appreciated, with donation jars provided at the registration table. She added that the repair of items is a good way for two groups of people to come together for a common goal—the skills of the volunteers to repair items that might otherwise have been thrown away, thereby reducing waste.

Organizers of this sort of event often use poster printing to draw attention to such events and their benefits for the community.