Get the latest Syracuse news delivered right to your inbox.
Subscribe to our newsletter here.

A mother and her twin daughters were “at a loss” when they brought their broken toys into the first Repair Cafe CNY event at the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship at LeMoyne College. Their stuffed animal’s music box was broken, and one of the twins couldn’t sleep without it.

“After they finally were able to fix it, everyone there was cheering,” Andra Leimanis, an attendee and Syracuse native, said. “It really was a memorable moment for everyone.”

Morgan Ingraham, program associate for Syracuse University’s Institute for Sustainability Engagement, started Repair Cafe CNY in May. The group hosts regular free events for attendees to help each other repair broken items. They restore everything from broken lamps to weed wackers at no charge. So far, they’ve had an estimated 80% success rate with fixing items, Ingraham said.

The group hosted their first volunteer-run repair cafe on May 10. The next event will be at the Liverpool Public Library on Nov. 8. These events happen all over New York state, Ingraham said, and she was happy to bring them back to Syracuse.

Now-retired Ed Schmitt ran Syracuse Repair Cafe events, but they ended around 2019. After looking into the last repair cafe held through Schmitt’s group, Ingraham was set to host her own version of it — Repair Cafe CNY.

“We’re definitely in an area in need of reuse and repair,” Ingraham said.

Leimanis brought her broken sandals to the May event. The back strap had been ripped out and the shoes were unwearable. An event volunteer was able to sew it back together. The event saved her money and taught her how to fix the item. Next time, she’ll do it herself, she said.

But a repair cafe does more than simply repair broken objects, Leimanis said. Like the stuffed animal, they revive memories and bring back objects the owners thought were gone forever.

One of Ingraham’s main goals for Repair Cafe CNY is to promote sustainability and fight “throwaway culture.” Through the repair cafe and her work at SU, she strives to combat this idea that if something is broken, it should immediately be thrown out.

Repair Cafe CNY encourages people to mend old items instead of throwing them away. When volunteers help fix their item, attendees also learn how to do it themselves next time. Courtesy of Morgan Ingraham

Repair cafes promote sustainability by encouraging people to reuse and fix items they already own, instead of buying entirely new ones when something breaks.

“I will take an opportunity to make a sustainable choice, but even more than that, the draw was this idea to have a community event where we all help each other to be sustainable,” attendee Kimberly Barrie said.

Barrie brought her daughter’s scooter. She said with some investigation and time, the volunteers at the bike station in the repair cafe were able to get it working again. She was grateful not to have to buy a whole new scooter.

In the future, Barrie hopes these events can be geared toward serving those in need. It’s beneficial to provide an option for people who may not have the ability to go out and buy something brand new, she said. She considers it a privilege to have something worth fixing in the first place.

Xan Lorimer, a volunteer from the event in May, said he got his first experience with a repair cafe in 2022 in Phoenixville, P.A., after hearing about the initiative in a blog. When he moved to Syracuse and heard about Repair Cafe CNY, he knew he had to join.

Lorimer said growing up in a farmhouse gave him a sense of how to fix things, which led to a natural interest in repairing.

“It’s a good experience to teach people how to make their own repairs and to also solve problems to help out in your community,” Lorimer said.

Ingraham said the work she’s done through Repair Cafe CNY has given her a tangible way to give back to the city, while also letting her see the impact it’s had on fostering a sense of community.

“Its very much neighbors helping neighbors, and that’s it,” Ingraham said. “It’s really been a way to bring people together in a way that I think a lot of people are looking for these days.”

Published on September 30, 2025 at 10:46 pm