The CVSWMD and ORE are hosting Vermont's first Repair Café and we are looking for volunteers to help us make it happen. We are seeking “fixperts” who can dedicate their time and experience to help us make these events successful. We would love to have a diverse group of fixperts to share their knowledge and to offer a variety of services to Repair Café participants. Examples of fixpert skills include (but are definitely not limited to):
- Sewers
- Cobblers
- Electronics repair
- Clockmakers
- Watchmakers
- Bike repairs
- Electronics repair
- Small appliance repair
- Carpenters
- Welding
- YOUR REPAIR SKILL
Repair Cafés are free meeting places that are all about repairing things (together). By volunteering your knowledge and expertise at a Repair Café, many positive benefits can be achieved. Valuable, practical knowledge is passed on and shared. Repairing is brought back into local society in a modern way. The amount of raw materials needed to make new products is reduced if we fix something instead of purchasing yet more poorly made new things. You get an opportunity to show off your unique skill and help inspire people in the process. Above all, participating at a Repair Café is fun and helps bring members of the community together!
And, as an added bonus, if you are member of the Onion River Exchange timebank you can receive community time credits for the hours that you spend as a fixer at the Repair Cafe.
We live in a society that revolves around consumption. We buy something, it breaks, we throw it out and buy a new one. This is the norm, but there are serious consequences with this cycle. The average American produces 4.4 pounds of trash per day most of which is sent to a landfill. But what if we could change this? We can and the solution is simple: repair.
As the Repair Café Organisation noted, few people think about the possibility of repairing an object. Typically, it’s more convenient to throw something out. Because of this, most people no longer know how to repair things and the people who do aren’t valued as they should be. However, it is these individuals who have the power to contribute towards making our society more sustainable.
If you'd like to join CVSWMD and ORE in our efforts to bring Repair Cafes to the region, contact us!