Just in time for Halloween, Repair Café creates zombies

written by Newspack Team | October 23, 2018

Got a dead toaster, lamp, chair, or fan? 

Let the fixers at the Repair Café bring it back to life – for free!

That’s right – it’s ba-ack!   On Saturday, October 27, from noon to 4:00 pm, the Cville TimeBank Repair Café will once again haunt the Habitat Store on Harris Street, working to revive dead small appliances and lamps, mend clothing, fix furniture and jewelry, and do their best to bring whatever’s broken back to useful life.

Because what’s REALLY scary is trucking literally tons of still useful stuff to landfills already bursting at the seams.

“The Repair Café movement started because people were fed up with throwing good stuff in the trash,” said event coordinator Ann Marie Hohenberger. “We bring the community together to save our stuff, save money, and meet new friends instead of just ordering new stuff online.”

As always, attendees can bring up to three items to be fixed, including chairs, lamps, small appliances, fixable clothing and jewelry, broken bikes and more.

Kids of all ages are invited to visit the Take-Apart Table, where they’ll get to pick up tools and disassemble some common objects to see what’s inside.

“It’s incredible how much fun people have taking things apart,” said Hohenberger. “We’ve seen kids and parents working side-by-side for literally hours.”

Top Notch Computers will return to advise on and tune up computers, and Way Cool Tools will once again offer tool sharpening services.

Volunteers from Charlottesville Community Bikes, a non-profit local bike shop, will be on hand to offer hands-on bike repair and maintenance.

For safety reasons, volunteers will not repair gas operated lawn and garden equipment, televisions, or microwave ovens.

Cville TimeBank is once again partnering with The Habitat Store, which offers bargains on new and used building materials, furniture, and more.  The store is run by Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, and all profits go toward building more affordable housing in our area.