By Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
A Repair Café was held at the Church of the Advent in Medfield. The event was sponsored by Sustainable Medfield, the Westwood Environment Action Committee (WEAC), and the Dover Recycling Committee. It was also part of Medfield Environment Action’s (MEA’s) 2025 Climate Week.
Volunteer “fixperts” donated their time and tools to provide free (but not guaranteed) repairs of community members’ common items, such as clothing, jewelry, lamps, locks (rekeying), bikes, furniture, and small appliances. A small “Parts Store” table held commonly needed parts that could be purchased for the repairs. While waiting for a fixpert, people mingled and enjoyed cookies and a beverage.
Upon entering the building, each participant was asked what item they brought to be fixed, what was wrong with it, and the name of their town of residence. The patron was then led to the table of a fixpert that could handle repairs for the item in question.
One participant, Walter, brought a vacuum cleaner that would not pick up debris, but pushed it out of the back onto the floor instead. Fixpert Simon from Dover immediately went to work, taking the vacuum hose off and opening the front. He peered into the hose from both directions and found a blockage. After a few tries to remove the blockage with wire from a coat hanger, Simon switched to a new tool—a broom handle—which effectively cleared the hose. Subsequent tests confirmed that the vacuum was then working as intended. Not only was the vacuum repaired for additional use, instead of being added to the waste stream, but Walter also learned the procedure for repairing it, should the same issue recur, by watching Simon.
After thanking Simon for his help and celebrating together, Walter stopped by the snack table to get a couple of cookies and reported to the front desk that the repair was successful.
Others brought in items to be fixed, and everyone seemed to enjoy the opportunity to avoid waste, continue to use items that were broken, and visit with others.
