The former fire engine bays at Pioneer Hose, next to Norbury Hall on Center Street, were humming with energy on Saturday, August 16, as Ellenville’s first ever repair café kicked off.

Set in motion by COFFE member John Glagola, the repair café is actually part of a global effort to erode the “throwaway culture” that has seized hold of humanity and generated mountains of trash.

The first repair café launched in Amsterdam sixteen years ago and was spearheaded by Martine Postma. That event, October 18, 2009, was so successful she went on to start the Repair Café International Foundation. There are now 2,500 and counting repair cafés operating around the world.

Repair cafés are spaces where volunteers can meet up with people who have stuff that needs fixing. That’s why Ellenville’s took over John Glagola’s workshop at Pioneer Hose – lots of tools and work spaces. On Saturday, John said, “We had 15 volunteers and we had people working on both sides of the shop on all kinds of things.”

On one side, Poppy Cannon-Reese, retired manager of NBC/Universal Studios’ massive costume shop was working with another volunteer, sewing machines humming as they tackled problem repairs on all sorts of textiles.

Next to her was Joe Stoeckeler, chair of the Village Planning Board and also a town councilor, who would tackle a variety of repairs – starting with a bird feeder with a damaged lid, for which he found a neat solution with a pair of tough plastic zip ties. A bit later, Joe was fixing a PlayStation.

Meanwhile the Moxie Sparks – Lee and Taylor – were strip the wiring out of a vintage electric lamp, and rewiring it like new. Lamps are their specialty, see https://www.moxiesparks.com for more information.

John Glagola recalled another item, a Kitchen Aid mixer that was also successfully repaired.

“I think we had about 35 people come in with items,” he said, “and we got about 65 or more repaired. Some people went home and brought back more things.”

Cannon-Reese was pleased with the day’s efforts and noted repairs made to sofa cushions which sadly often get tossed for nothing more than a small rip or some attention from a house cat.

“We will do it again on October 18,” she said. “It was fun!”

Glagola said the cafe went by in a whirl of energy.

“It was a bit like a busy night at a Manhattan restaurant,” he said. “You barely notice the time passing because it’s so busy.”

And so, the call goes out. if you like to fix stuff and you have some tools, contact John @studioglagola on Instagram and volunteer for October 18. Meanwhile, if you have a nice but broken item from jewelry to electronics, or even a bird feeder, stow it away until October and bring it to the repair café!