SUNDRE – It’s said that men forge deeper bonds and more meaningful friendships by for example hammering nails into lumber or working collaboratively on just about any kind of hands-on project, than by pounding back brews sitting at the pub.
“Men do some of their best communicating shoulder-to-shoulder as opposed to face-to-face,” said Paul Shippy, a local organizer who hopes to help establish a local Men’s Shed initiative in Sundre in partnership with support from community service organizations such as the Greenwood Neighourhood Place Society.
Following up on the effort of another individual who successfully applied for a $1,000 startup grant from Men’s Sheds Canada, Shippy said he plans to work at taking the initiative to the next step by gauging local interest and discussing ideas at an upcoming open meeting on Oct. 10 at The Den starting at 7:30 p.m.
The drive to introduce a Men’s Shed in Sundre comes as other communities in the region – such as Innisfail, Olds, and Spruce View – pursue a similar path. But the idea’s origins date back to the 1980s in Australia, where some miners who had retired found “themselves at a bit of a loss as to how to how to connect to other men,” he said.
“So they created a men’s shed, which was really just a place to go and commune, and kind of a third place that isn’t work and is not home,” he said.
The idea was to work collaboratively on all different kinds of projects in a welcoming setting that provides “kind of a comfortable way to work on friendships” while also building “community through tasks as opposed to straight-up face-to-face talking.”
Since then, the men’s shed movement has gone global.
“There seems to be a need for that,” he said, adding there is no set-in-stone template for what a Men’s Shed should be and that each one can essentially be customized to cater to a community’s specific needs and interests.
“It can take any form that anybody wants, really – whether it’s an actual shed or a garage or maybe people are just meeting at a local coffee shop,” he said. “But really, it’s mostly about building community in some way.”
The introductory meeting was facilitated courtesy of the startup grant and Shippy hopes to see some people who are also interested in developing a board as well as a vision and mission to begin “working on the bones of what a Sundre Men’s Shed would look like.”
Provided there’s enough interest to move forward, Shippy said a local couple has already offered the use of a small shop on their property to get started.
“Since there’s a place to actually meet, now we can legitimately start getting some people together and see what people would like to create in the community,” he said, expressing appreciation to GNP for also providing accommodations at The Den to host the initial meeting to test the waters.
“In the spirit of partnership and cooperation, that’s just a really nice start to things,” he said, also adding the startup grant is “a very helpful little bit of money that Men’s Sheds Canada puts forth.”
Shippy looks forward to what comes of the discussion, whether that might be suggestions such as carpentry projects to build anything from bird houses to picnic tables for the community, tinkering on electronics, or anything that someone is interested in.
“I almost see it as a cooperative maker-space where people get together and work on things together, as opposed to, often, their own shops,” he said.
“Some people are privileged and fortunate enough to have their own shop, their own garage, their own workspace. But some don’t, so this would also serve the purpose of providing people an opportunity to use tools, to learn about using tools from other men. There’s a lot of really knowledgeable men who want to mentor others,” he said.
“Some men’s sheds would even have a tool library where you could rent tools out and work on things. It’s very, very hands-on, task-based, for those who like that kind of thing.”
That might even include the artistically inclined, he said.
“It’s about communion and creating, building, working on projects,” he said, adding there is also a focus on fostering men’s wellness.
“It can kind of take any form that it wants,” he said. “That’s the exciting opportunity in Sundre, is to see what people might like to create – what works for this community.”
Ultimately, he said his “pie-in-the-sky imagination” envisions “a designated building that is a maker-space” that could accommodate a variety of endeavours whether for art, music, and of course classics such as carpentry “for people who want to create and commune.”
Asked if there was perhaps a specific location he had in mind, Shippy said, “I’m big on community partnerships. I know that there are some establishments that have a tough time existing on their own, so I would hope that there’d be a way to to kind of incorporate some different groups and organizations to make a really healthy, usable collective space.”
While one approach might be to fundraise enough money to build a brand new space from the ground up, that process is much more laborious as well as time-consuming and prohibitive to getting started sooner rather than later, he said.
“I think there’s enough venues in town; it’s more about having enough vision and enough buy-in from other organizations to utilize it,” he said, suggesting that starting small and building up from there might be the most sensible way to get going.
“The nature of it is as a cooperative and as a communal space with the ethos of partnerships and collectivism,” he said. “We’ll see if the community has an appetite for that and if they’d like to work at creating it.”
Shippy also emphasized that men of all walks of life are invited to join the open meeting, including those who in retirement may be feeling more isolated and searching for a fulfilling way either to be productive or give back to their community.
“This is for our dads and brothers and uncles and grandpas,” he said. “This is for all kinds of men who need a place to be.”
Visit www.mensshedscanada.ca for more information about the general movement, and join the Men’s Shed Sundre page on social media or even email [email protected] to learn more about the local initiative.
