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.