OLDS — The Men’s Shed of Olds is still in its infancy, but members of the group are excited about its potential.
A Men’s Shed is place where men – often retired, but not exclusively so – can meet, socialize and work on projects to help reduce social isolation and improve mental wellness.
Members often undertake wood working projects, but the one in Olds at least is looking at other ideas, including building mini-libraries or repairing bicycles and motorbikes.
Town council has approved a project offering the former Olds operations Quonset at 4825 – 51st St. as a multi-use facility where the Men’s Shed, local artists, the Mountain View Moccasin House Society and other groups could co-locate.
Men’s Shed of Olds president Morley Kjargaard and communications chair Tom O’Neill say the group, which had its beginnings a couple of years ago, has now got to the point where it has about 50 members from Olds and surrounding area. Members range in age from about 50 years old to more than 80.
The group has a board of directors and has applied to obtain non-profit status.
There are Men’s Sheds in Innisfail, Sundre and across the country.
During an interview with the Albertan, Kjargaard said he first heard about the concept on the radio while driving on the highway.
“In this particular story, guys were getting together, they had access to a workshop, and they would build things out of wood.
“That interests me. I'm a woodworker, and so I talked about it, and I was still working the time, so I kind of put it on the back burner, but I kept talking about it, and there seemed to be really good interest,” Kjargaard said.
At about the same time, town staff saw an opportunity to create a Men’s Shed in the former town operations building, so Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) began promoting the idea around town.
O’Neill heard about it through a couple of meetings.
He said as an older handyman, he was intrigued by the concept.
“I'm not really interested in learning (about) all kinds of tools and stuff, but what really intrigued me was the camaraderie and the friendship side of it,” O’Neill said.
“Because I think to myself, ‘I'm 67 years old, I’ve worked all the time. If I was actually to ask a male friend to go out for a drink, I wouldn't know who to even call, right? Because we're working all the time.”
Kjargaard said retirement can be a big problem for some men.
“Research would indicate that when men retire, they're not as successful at maintaining a social network, so they are home alone.
“They get lonely, they get depressed, they get bored, and they have poor mental health outcomes quite often, maybe even drinking.
“A Men's Shed is an opportunity to get out of the house, be social and improve your mental health.
“And so while I wasn't motivated by that when I heard the original story, it's a big part of it right now,” he said.
O’Neill stressed that the Men’s Shed of Olds is not run by FCSS, although they do keep in touch. In fact, an FCSS rep attends all their meetings.
Currently, members of the Men’s Shed of Olds meet at the Elks Hall, the first and third Wednesday of each month from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“The Elks have generously donated us the space, so we don't have to rent anything. And that's where the membership, whoever wants to show up (meet),” O’Neill said.
So far, he said, they haven’t been working on any projects. It’s basically been an opportunity to socialize as they build up the organization.
O’Neill said although there’s interest locating in the former operations shed, the club is still negotiating with the town about what that might look like.
When they do settle on a central place to meet and undertake projects, Kjargaard said the group has several ideas.
“We would like to think that there's an opportunity to build furniture and fixtures for Kirsten’s Place (the emergency shelter under construction in Olds) as it gets finished and operational, maybe some patio furniture, some help with some landscaping,” he said.
Another idea to is to build lending libraries.
Yet another is to make bird feeders.
Kjargaard said they could “go in strategic locations around the town, mostly for the hospital or long-term care facilities, so that, you know, if you're stuck indoors, you can sit in a window and watch the birds come and go and feel like you're part of nature.”
Another idea generated from some guys in the group is to repair motorbikes.
“All of them have talked about their motorbikes and their shops and the motorbikes in their sheds that aren't being used,” O’Neill said.
Kjargaard noted that some guys in Calgary repair bicycles.
“They bring them back into a functioning form and then they give them back to kids that don't have bikes in the community,” he said.
“So, you know, we're looking, and we'll talk to the town of Olds to see if they have a collection of old and abandoned bikes, and we might take that on as a project.”
“It’s whatever the community needs, so I call it a win-win-win.”
O’Neill stressed that the group’s main precept is to ensure they don’t compete with local contractors.
“The contractors are trying to do their own thing. They have to make a living,” he said. “We have to do things that are non-interfering with contractors.”
“Yeah, we're pretty conscious of not competing with private enterprise. We’ll take on community projects that don't really fit within the private sector domain,” Kjargaard said.
Kjargaard noted that his kids are now in university, but when they were younger, they belonged to a 4H multi-club and he was impressed with the variety of projects and activities they were exposed to during those years.
“You could take orientation and hiking one day, and then photography, and then cooking,” he said, adding he believes his kids really enjoyed that variety, and that same kind of variety could be good for the Men’s Shed.
“We went around the room and did some introductions at our last meeting, and the variety and the wealth of experience, the skill set, it was fabulous,” Kjargaard said.
He and O’Neill said while supporting good mental health is a goal of the Men’s Shed that’s not stressed.
“It's not always put up there as front and centre, because that might intimidate some of the guys to say, ‘I don't want to join a club that's interested in mental health.’
“But if you ask them, ‘do you want to join a club that's going to take on some projects of woodworking or bicycle repair or anything else?’ I think that's a little bit more appealing and a little bit less threatening,” Kjargaard said.
O’Neill agreed.
“If you advertise, ‘oh, we're a mental health association, (they’re going to say), ‘there’s nothing wrong with me,’” he said.
Kjargaard and O’Neill are grateful for the help their group has received from the town.
“The town did a really great service for ourselves in that they promoted it and generated lots of interest, and so we're the beneficiaries of that, and we're off to a really good start, I think,” Kjargaard said.
“We've opened a bank account, so you know, things are happening,” O’Neill said with a laugh.
