PHOTOS: Westwood Repair Cafe

The Council on Aging hosted another successful Repair Cafe on Saturday, October 5. Earlier this year, Westwood Living connected with those most instrumental in getting this initiative off the ground.
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Do you ever wonder if your living room chair with a wobble or your clock that no longer keeps time can be fixed instead of being tossed? Get in a fret over parting with a beloved antique lamp or your cozy duvet because it’s ripped? I do, and I hope you do too because Americans generate nearly five pounds of trash per person, per day, with half of it ending up in landfills.
 
Kate La Croix, the Chair of the Westwood Environmental Action committee, along with her fellow board members, have led the charge in Westwood to promote the concept of “repair and reuse” instead of the more common “throw away and buy new” approach.
 

The inaugural Repair Café, hosted at the Senior Center, changed lives. Sean Weller’s face lit up with a smile as Rob Solomon started to fix the dining room chair he and his wife, Grace, had brought in.
 

“This is the coolest thing I’ve been to in a while,” said Grace after attentively watching all that had transpired before her.
 

“We knew there were repair cafes already happening in Massachusetts, some of them quite nearby in places like Natick and Framingham, so we went and did our research, figured out how it all worked and launched our very first one.” Kate said proudly, with a smile.
 

“This year, we only have seven repair coaches. Next year we’d like to have more, grow it with time, and help more and more people!” Kate added.
 

“The repair itself is free. You can bring the parts with you or check in with Steve to see if you can buy what you need at our parts store,” said Kate as she pointed to her Vice Chair, Steve Harte, who was manning the temporary parts store.
 

The concept of the Repair Café represents a throwback to a different era, with neighbors lending a hand, putting their expertise and talents to good use while restoring memories over a cup of tea. While some neighbors walk in carrying their beloved, but broken items, needing help, others volunteer their time and skills, mending the broken items. It was endearing to watch Rob Solomon and Tony Cautela work together to repair the horn on a beautiful porcelain unicorn figurine belonging to Nicki Megan.
 

Martine Postma, a Dutch journalist, dreamed up the repair cafe concept and organized the very first one in Amsterdam in 2009. Since then, it’s taken flight from Europe to the United States, and as far east as India and Japan, to become a truly global phenomenon. The most popular items to get a facelift are clocks, jewelry, clothing, furniture, small electric appliances, bicycles, crockery and other keepsakes.