Don't Throw It Out, Your Neighbors Will Help You Fix It In Mamaroneck

MAMARONECK, NY — It's almost time for the Third Annual Repair Café, so grab that wonky lamp, meet your neighbors and help keep treasures from becoming trash.

The Town of Mamaroneck will host a Repair Café at the Mamaroneck Senior Center at 1288 Boston Post Road on Sunday, October 15, from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Those visiting the Repair Café are invited to bring their broken items from home (toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, toys, crockery, costume jewelry, electronic equipment, etc.).

Anything that is broken, not working, or can be mended, and can be carried in by one person is welcome.

The fixers will do their best.

"I'm delighted that our volunteers organized this event again this year," Town Supervisor Jaine Elkind Eney said of last year's successful event. "As a NYS-certified Climate Smart Community, this fits with our Town’s philosophy of creating less waste and being more sustainable."

The Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative, along with the Village of Mamaroneck Committee for the Environment and the Village of Larchmont Environmental Committee, want to help reduce waste by promoting repairs.

"We throw away way too many items, even items that could be simply repaired," Kevin Crowe, a volunteer with the Town’s Sustainability Collaborative who is a lead on the Repair Café committee explained.

Mark Kramer, the Co-Lead on the committee said that repairing an item not only keeps that item out of the landfill, it also saves natural resources needed to create a replacement.

"Let's change the 'buy new' mindset and buy into the Repair Café mindset," Kramer said, announcing this year's event.

The Repair Café concept was created in the Netherlands in 2009 by Martine Postma, at the time an Amsterdam-based journalist/publicist. In 2010, she started the Repair Café Foundation, which provides support to local groups around the world wishing to start their own Repair Café.

"So much stuff gets thrown away unnecessarily, adding to ever growing piles of trash,” Sasha Nahr, Chair, Larchmont Environmental Committee noted.

Ellen Silver, Chair, Village of Mamaroneck Committee for the Environment said the success of the café is both practical and social.

"The Repair Café is a wonderful community event that promotes reducing waste by providing our residents an opportunity to give their broken items a second life."

If you are interested in being a volunteer fixer, email this address or call 914-381-7805.

More information on the Town of Mamaroneck Sustainability Collaborative can be found here and here. More information on the Village of Mamaroneck Committee for the Environment can be found here. More information on the Village of Larchmont Environmental Committee can be found here.