Repair Café, June 18, 2016

A Repair Café is scheduled for Saturday, June 18, 2016 from10:00 am-2:00 pm at the First CongregationalChurch's Arnold Auditorium, 199 Valley Street, Willimantic. 

A Repair Café is a free event during which volunteer "fixers" are available to help make all possible repairs free of charge except for the cost of replacement parts. People visiting the Repair Café can bring their broken items from home. Toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, bikes, toys, crockery - anything that is broken that can be carried in is welcome and can more than likely be repaired. The fixers in Repair Café almost always have the know-how.

Members of the community interested in volunteering to be fixers for this or future Repair Café events are asked to contact Virginia Walton, Mansfield Recycling Coordinator at 860-429-3333 or  Eva Csejtey, Director of Volunteer Engagement at Access Agency at 860-450-7400, x 7458.  Members of the Windham Area Hour Exchange who provide repair services at the event will earn "time dollars" for their efforts. Individuals handy at repair in the areas of book binding, knife sharpening, sewing, furniture, electrical appliances, electronics, blade sharpening, small engines, tools, ceramics, and more are welcome.

The Repair Café helps the environment by fixing manufactured items and decreases the need to buy replacements.  Organizers of the Repair Café include community members inspired by the Transition Town principles.  These principles seek to build resilience in response to peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instabilityand promote the idea of community learning, assisting and relying on each other for goods and services. The Repair Café is a way to meet those means and to build community, skills and relationships.

Windham Area Hour Exchange

In October 2012, the Access Community Action Agency launched the Windham Area Hour Exchange, a time bank of individuals, businesses, and organizations focused on improving conditions for low-income community members. There are currently more than 200 members in the Hour Exchange who have exchanged over 3,000 hours of services. For more information about the Windham Area Hour Exchange, contact Eva Csejtey, Access Director of Volunteer Engagement at (860) 450-7400, ext. 7458,volunteer@accessagency.org, or visit www.accessagency.org.

Access Community Action Agency

The Access Community Action Agency serves Windham and Tolland Counties, CT. Founded in 1965, Access's mission is to create opportunities that empower people and communities to achieve and sustain economic stability. Access offers a number of community-based programs in support of this mission, including provision of supplemental food, emergency shelter, energy assistance, energy conservation services, job and life skills training, youth mentoring, group homes, senior housing and more for low-income families and individuals. For more information about Access' services, call (860) 450-7400 in the Willimantic area, (860) 412-1600 in the Danielson area, or visit www.accessagency.org. 

Repair Café Foundation

The Repair Café concept arose in Amsterdam, where the Repair Café Foundation has regularly been organizing gatherings since 2010. Since January 2011, the foundation has provided support to local groups in and outside the Netherlands wishing to start their own Repair Cafés, including the Repair Café in Willimantic. For more information about Repair Cafes, visit www.repaircafe.org.