On Friday, April 1, Our Studio group made our Men’s Shed Presentation for the studio class, Seth, Pete and Jeff jones from Lentara and we got some valuable feedback. The crucial question asked was ‘How are we going to move onto the next step?’ and Jeff cautioned us about focusing too much on aiming for corporate support. The advise Jeff gave us after the presentations was that a more realistic direction would be to engage in the community and get support from local residents and businesses.
How do we build on the current relationship and engage with the local community?
While we still need to gather more information from the Men’s Shed in Sunshine, one strategy our group thought of was for them to distribute newsletters that could be delivered by post, emailed or put up on notice boards, and also this becomes a way to keep donors up to date with what is happening at Men’s Shed.
Meeting Anthony and attending multiple Men’s Shed events and activities is our next step.
“Men lose their friends. In your working life men lose their friends. You focus on your family and work and by the time you get to retirement you’ve got no friends.”
Dave Hughes – 7pm Project
Men’s Sheds (BBC Breakfast TV, 31 Dec 2013):
“My twin brother lost his son through suicide. His friends counselled him. They’re not professional councillors, but an invisible arm around an unhappy man’s shoulders is a great gift to give an unhappy man.”
Doing Good in Australia – Men’s Shed (Youtube: Rotary):
Though we didn’t get to meet Anthony Lai, the co-ordinator of the Men’s Shed, as the Men’s Shed group were at an off-site activity, it was still valuable to understand how the program fits into the operations of the Sunshine Mission. This will help us in identifying ways we can proceed with this project.
Casey has been working at the Uniting Church at Sunshine for 10 years, he has a great deal of knowledge about the Men’s Shed and its need. He made us feel welcome and he answered our questions with good depth and background. He has passion for what he does.
It was identified that the Sunshine Mission was in need of a business model to become more sustainable and be self sufficient and that of course affects the direction of the Men’s Shed Building better profile is another need. It’s clear to see that there are many things that could be done at the Sunshine Mission to improve what they do, but we as a group have to narrow it down quite a bit, given we only have 8 or so weeks to complete our project and do what we can do. Helping with their profile issue with the Men’s Shed would be something that seems very possible for our group.
We still need to find out more about their Men’s Shed and our next step should be to meet Anthony Lai.
The Sunshine mission is home to Brimbank’s Men’s Shed and workshop. The location also includes a church, a communal garden, a meeting room (available for hire), work offices and a food storage room with food provided by Foodbank, Aus Harvest and occasionally Woolworths.
The Sunshine Mission is host to several people from Work For The Dole, including the waiter from the cafe.
Funding of the Men’s Shed comes mainly from the Uniting Church congregation attached to the Sunshine Mission.
The Sunshine Mission run 3 different activities: Tool Program (about 30 regulars involved), Socialisation (30 people) and Asylum Seeker program (10 people), which provides acclimation assistance to Asylum Seekers.
People who go to the Men’s Shed are aged from 50 to 70
The 3 main ways people find out about the Men’s Shed and the other programs are through referrals, word of mouth and website.
Casey suggested that a three year investment with a corporate partner will sustain the mission’s programs for the next three years
Casey also suggested that profile building would be beneficial in securing corporate partners and financial support.
Casey describes the Sunshine Mission as “A goldmine”, believing it can eventually be self sufficient and it’s success can be a “Gateway to different things”
Funding of the Shed goes towards publicity (i.e. brochures and organised events), employment of Co-ordinator, Anthony Lai and materials
Casey emphasises Anthony’s importance to the shed, due to his experience, understanding and expertise
Casey and Anthony previously visited a Men’s Shed in Glen Waverley and points that being an example of a successful Men’s Shed
Heather, an employee we met indicated the communal justice program could also use a bit of attention.
As part of our research for the Lentara Men’s Shed program, we arranged a meeting with Casey O’Brian for 10am on the 18th of March at the Lentara Sunshine Mission (Address: 32 Withers Street, Sunshine Vic 3032).
These are the questions we have prepared:
How did the Brimbank Men’s Shed start?
How to make it more profitable? Compete with other organisations to get grants?
What types of people go to this Men’s Shed? (Demographic.)
What kind of activities are run?
How do people get involved? (Do you approach them?)
Who are the volunteers?
What benefits have you seen from The Men’s Shed initiative? (Specific examples.)
What is the ultimate goal of The Men’s Shed? (Keep people connected with society. Connect people with opportunities. Are they looking to increase involvement in the Men’s Shed?)
What growth would they want to see in Men’s Shed? (Do you want more involvement? Increase activities.)
What can our group do for The Men’s Shed? (What we are capable of doing…Produce videos? Create logo? Design apparel?)
How can The Men’s Shed be supported? (Donations. Collaboration with other organisations/companies)
When Ted Donnelly and his mates started meeting up to do woodwork in a shed in Lane Cove in1998 they could never have known that 16 years later there would be more than 1000 men’s sheds across the country.
Ted Donnelly Co-Authored the first ‘How to start a Men’s Shed manual’
The first men’s shed was opened in 1998 in Sydney
There are now over 1000 sheds across Australia
The Men’s shed movement has expanded to New Zealand, England, Ireland and Canada
Each Shed decides on what activity or interests it wants to pursue
SBS 2 – “Men’s Shed Movement” (Video below)
Notable Quotes:
Dan Brem, Member (Strathfield Men’s Shed):
“It’s hard to motivate yourself when you’ve got nothing to motivate you”
“The number of times I’ve considered THAT path was beyond count”
Depression: “Regiment of get up in the morning because you’ve got to take tablets”, If my diary didn’t have anything in it, I’d sit at home. I knew there had to be something done, I hadn’t decide what.”
The Men’s Shed: I walked into the shed, I was welcomed into the shed, I felt that it was going to change things”
“The guys were into doing things, they encouraged community projects. They would encourage you to…even if all you did was have a cup of coffee, you were part of the group”
“It was very very good to find a place that had the ideals and camaraderie that I was looking for.”
“Sometimes I come in to the shed just to get away from the rest of my problems, just to forget about the medical stuff. Forget about the crap that’s going on. You come in here and you don’t ask for help, you get the peer support to self help and that’s what it’s all about. And support is necessary for everybody.”
The first men’s shed was opened in 1998 in Sydney.
Ted Donnelly – Founding member of Men’s Shed – (Lane Cove Mens Shed):
“It has been pointed out to that if we were shed here in Australia, I’m the last founding member and I’ve been going here for 16 years. I’m the longest serving Men’s Shedder in Australia.
There are now over 1000 sheds across Australia.
The Men’s shed movement has expanded to New Zealand, England, Ireland and Canada
“Men who, when they left work, they were having problems. The work was a big social aspect of their life. And when they left they found that they were really out on a limb. This was creating a lot of health problems. We really are part of a preventative system in that we certainly cut out the social isolation and I think this is a very big factor.”
“Well men have been brought up really that they have this stiff upper lip and they don’t talk like things like that. That’s part of being a man. That’s one of the biggest things that I see at the Men’s Shed here. That men are much more able to talk freely here about these various things. Women speak face to face to each other, men don’t do it that way. Men learn a lot better standing with another man at the side of him and showing and doing things together and chatting whilst their doing it.”
When you go overseas and you talk about it, they all refer to this as the Australian phenomena. They’re all willing to acknowledge that all this started here.
The very common thing is what people say is that the shed is the reason I get out of bed in the morning
William Abbott, Member (Strathfield Men’s Shed):
“I’ve been coming to the shed for about 12 months, I’m a fairly new member. It’s given me a different outlook on everything. A completely different outlook. Different people to talk to. Great group of men. Different occupations and it’s interesting to find out what they’ve done. And it also gets you off your tail. I really enjoy coming here, there are no two ways.
What do you usually do when you’re at the shed?
“Nothing. How ’bout that. I sit and talk”
John, Member (Strathfield Men’s Shed):
There’s a lot of people that are 50 and over, doing nothing, but if I could tell them about the shed then they might want to come just for a look. You just look forward to something when you know you fit in. I don’t want to be known as the token blind man or anything like that. I just want to be one of them. One of the shed people. They’d make me feel welcome that way.”