by Gabriella Vukman
A new men’s shed is set to grace the Hills community thanks to a grant of almost $40,000 from the State Government.
Mountain District Learning Centre in Ferntree Gully will be the site for the transformation. The old garage behind the centre will be fully refurbished to comfortably host the men’s shed.
Janet Claringbold from the Mountain District Learning Centre (MDLC) said, “the grant opportunity was for established and new men’s sheds so we decided to put in an application for a new men’s shed and we just created the name Mountain District Men’s shed because it will be located on our site.”
“We want to convert the garage that is on our property at the back of MDLC and convert the garage into a men’s shed,” Ms Claringbold said.
“It will need to be lined and the floors filled and new windows put in and that kind of thing to make it a usable space for people to undertake activities.”
Announced on Thursday 29 February, the MDLC has organised a meeting to sort out what happens from here.
“We identified that there is a need for more opportunities to connect and release boredom for men living in Ferntree Gully who may be lonely or feel socially isolated,” Ms Claringbold said.
“In partnership with the hills op shop, we are running a men’s chat group and we get a lot of referrals for social activities for men so we are really pleased to have this grant because that will help address the increasing issue of loneliness amongst men.”
“We already have a volunteer program running in our community garden and we have a few men attending that so we thought it was a nice compliment to the volunteer program to run additional programs that are particularly designed for men,” Ms Claringbold said.
At this men’s shed it will be up to participants to choose the shed’s activities.
Ms Claringbold said, “it won’t be the type of men’s shed where they will be focusing solely on woodwork or carpentry or mechanics or things like that, it’s more about social connection, than about producing items like some of the other men’s sheds do.”
“They might do activities like card playing and craft. They might do some woodwork projects if they want to but that is up to the men to decide,” Ms Claringbold said.
“The funding came through the state government and we were advised that there was a grant opportunity.”
The Mountain District Men’s Shed has received $37,377 from the state government.
Ms Claringbold said, “that is half of the funding we need to complete the project. We will find the other half from our own resources.”
“We want to get started on it straight away,” Ms Claringbold said.
“As soon as we receive the funds we can start the project.”
Ms Claringbold hopes that the program will be up and running by the end of this year.
“We are so happy to receive this grant because we know there is a big need for places for men to connect and we are really pleased to have the opportunity to do it,” Ms Claringbold.
“We had the space but it just wasn’t suitable for people to meet in.”
