The Rotary Club of Nashoba Valley, with support from Bolton Local and the Repair Cafe Foundation, hosted the Bolton Repair Café on Saturday, June 1.The Bolton Repair Café was held in the cafeteria at the Florence Sawyer School. Many residents of Bolton and surrounding towns attended with with their items to be fixed for free.
At a Repair Café, everything centers on making repairs. Knowledgeable volunteers help repair items such as clean and mendable clothing, knitted and crocheted items, lamps, small appliances, computers and other electronics, bikes, toys, and jewelry. They also sharpen knives, scissors, and garden tools. Participants pay only for needed parts.
Volunteers at the Repair Café look at all items brought in and help try to repair them. When the volunteers cannot repair something that is repairable, they offer suggestions about where to go for repairs.
Unlike a "fix-it" shop, where people drop off items to be repaired and continue about their day, the Repair Café is meant to get people involved with the repair process, and create connections with others in the community. People bringing in items for repair are asked to stay while their items are being fixed. They can just watch, help with the repair, fix the items themselves with help from volunteers, or just have a snack and visit with neighbors.
The Nashoba Valley club continued its activity for kids at this event. Children could work on taking something apart at the supervised take-apart table, to see how it works. Putting things back together and fixing things was not expected.
