New City, NY – County Executive Ed Day and the County Youth Bureau are seeking volunteer Repair Coaches for upcoming 2024 Repair Café events. 

Three Repair Cafes are scheduled in April, on April 6th at Valley Cottage Library, April 20th at St Thomas Aquinas College, and April 27th at the New City Street Center. Repair Cafes will also be scheduled in June and November.

Repair Café is a community event where people can bring broken household items to be repaired for free by volunteer Repair Coaches. There will be several repair stations, including electronics, lighting, furniture, toys, small appliances, digital devices, and jewelry. Repair Coaches are social people at least 18 years old with repair skills in trades or crafts such as small appliances, woodworking/carpentry, electrical, electronics, sewing, computers, and costume jewelry. People of all ages are welcome to be a Repair Coach, and no formal or professional experience is necessary. Volunteers are needed for three hours per event. Repair Coaches will collaborate heavily with the public, with other repair people, and with students looking to learn more about trades. 

The event is coordinated by the Rockland Conservation & Service Corps (a program of the Rockland County Youth Bureau and the County of Rockland) and Rockland Green.

The Repair Café mission is to fix rather than dispose of beloved but broken objects, while passing down valuable repair skills, building community, and keeping things in circulation rather than the landfill.

County Executive Day said, “we increasingly are becoming a “throw away” society, one in which so many of our possessions are replaced at the first sign of a glitch. Preserving repair know-how skills by passing them on to the younger generation is critical to Rockland’s shared future. We hope you will bring your expertise and join us.”

Interested in helping? Please contact Kathy Galione, Volunteer Coordinator for Repair Café at 845-364-2932 or by e-mailing [email protected].