FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2018
Contact: John Lyon (845) 638-5645

New City, NY – County Executive Ed Day announced that the first ever Rockland Repair Café was a huge success. The event took place Sunday, May 6th, 2018 from 10 am – 1 pm at the Nyack Center. The event paired Repair Coaches, who are neighbors with fix-it expertise, with people who brought in items to be fixed such as lamps, computers, clothing, frames, small appliances, wooden items, toys and electronics.

125 Rockland residents attended the event, bringing on average 2 items to be repaired, that's 250 repairs in 3 hours. Any item that could be carried in was assessed by Repair Coaches and fixed for free. Residents brought lamps, jewelry, computers, chairs, toys, clothing, vacuums, toasters and numerous other items to be fixed.

The ability to fix or repair items is a dying art, and Repair Café celebrates the time, talent and transfer of fixer's expertise, ensuring that their knowledge is shared with others – especially young people.

"What a great community building event that reinforces and supports the Authority's Reduction and Reuse efforts! Just think of all of those items if they went unrepaired - they would have ended up in a landfill over 300 miles from Rockland," said Anna Roppolo, Executive Director of the Rockland County Solid Waste Management Authority.

"The benefits of this partnership are extensive and transformational; preserving repair know-how skills by passing them on to the younger generation is critical to Rockland's shared future," said County Executive Day. "I am thrilled that so many of you joined in this important initiative because only by working together, fostering a true sense of community, can we complete the renaissance that we have begun in this county."

Repair Café is a free, youth-friendly community event sponsored by the County of Rockland, Rockland County Solid Waste Management Authority, Rockland County Youth Bureau, Village of Nyack and Sierra Club of Rockland County.

For more information about the Repair Café movement and future events please like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/rocklandgov and http://www.facebook.com/GreenUpRockland/

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