Bernards Township Library To Host New Repair Café

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — What do you do with a broken toaster? Or a bike that needs a tune up? Or a jacket with a hole in the sleeve? Toss it? No way! Bernards Township Library is organizing another Repair Café in Basking Ridge on Saturday, May 31.

Starting at 11 a.m. and ending at 2 p.m. various volunteer repair experts will be available at the Library to help make all possible repairs free of charge. Tools and materials will also be on hand.

People visiting the Repair Café will bring along their broken items from home. Toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, bikes, toys, crockery... anything that is broken is welcome, and can more than likely be repaired. The Repair Café specialists almost always have the know-how.

"By promoting repairs, BTL wants to help reduce mountains of waste. This is absolutely necessary," according to Karen Vaias, Reference Librarian, "We throw away piles of stuff every day. Even things which practically have nothing wrong with them, and which could easily be used again after a simple repair. Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can have things repaired. Repair Café wants to change all that."

Repair Café is also meant to put neighbors in touch with each other in a new way. And to discover that a lot of know-how and practical skills can be found close to home.

Vaias comments, "If you repair a bike, a CD player or a pair of jeans together with a neighbor, you look at that person in a different light the next time you run into them on the street. Jointly making repairs can lead to new friends in your community."

Vaias points out that repairs can save money and resources, and can help minimize CO2 emissions.

"But above all, Repair Café just wants to show how much fun repairing things can be, and how easy itoften is," said Vaias.

BTL will also have Tech Teens available to help with software and device questions. Signup is
suggested, particularly if you want to be certain one of our volunteers will be able to evaluate your
item(s) for repair. Donations are welcome and will make future Repair Cafes possible.

The Repair Café concept arose in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2009, and was created by Martine
Postma, at the time a journalist/publicist. In 2010, she started the Repair Café International Foundation (see Repaircafe.org/en). This foundation provides professional support to local groups around the world wishing to start their own Repair Café. The foundation also supports the Repair Café in Basking Ridge.

For more information or to register, visit BernardsLibrary.org, stop in the Bernards Township Library, or call 908-204-3031 ext. 4.

The Bernards Township Library is located at 32 South Maple Avenue in Basking Ridge.