OLDS — Members of the Men’s Shed of Olds are very grateful for Rick Cowling’s offer to let them set up for now in his shop east of Olds, but the plan is still to eventually locate in an old Quonset on 51 Street, just east of the railway tracks.
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 their mental wellness.
About 57 men belong to the Olds-area organization. On average, 20 to 25 of them come to Cowling’s place to create things and hang out twice a week from 9 a.m. until noon.
They’ve been busy making use of all the big space and power tools available at the huge facility.
Some have built outdoor furniture, including benches, chairs and picnic tables for Kirsten’s Place, the emergency shelter in Olds, as well as other projects. They’re looking for sponsors for that furniture.
Other members have repaired old bikes which they offer free to kids and adults who need them (helmets can be made available too). They started out with a donation of 18 unclaimed bikes from the Town of Olds.
They also have some brand new bikes. President Morley Kjargaard is very appreciative for a big donation by Canadian Tire in Olds of bikes and related equipment.
“The box (of a truck) was overflowing. The back seat was filled. It was just incredible,” he said.
“And not, you know, oddball surplus stuff. This was standard tires and tubes and wheels and brakes and seats; just really, really good stuff; brand new stuff, lots of shifters and brake levers. And that is exactly the kind of stuff that we are always needing to buy.”
Kjargaard is also very grateful for a $2,000 donation the organization received from the Kiwanis Club of Olds.
Several bikes were given away as a result of contacts made while volunteering at the soup kitchen in Olds.
Future projects may include tables for the Mountain View Food Bank and making new flower planters for the Olds Hospital and Care Centre.
Members have expressed their gratitude to Cowling for use of the facility but Kjargaard said Cowling demurred, saying he was happy just to see it used.
They are pleased to create things the community needs, Kjargaard, communications chair Tom O’Neill and secretary treasurer Dennis McKernan say, but above all, the organization serves as a great source of camaraderie and friendship for the guys, most of whom are retired.
They note that after a lifetime of work, many retirees can feel lost and kind of useless without that job that gave them meaning, purpose and a chance to interact with others.
“Our membership is composed of the diversity of people. We've got structural engineers, plumbers, electricians, teachers,” McKernan said. “Some of the guys here are master carpenters.
“And, of course, every guy has got, like, 40 years’ experience at what he did, right? So there's a lot of expertise here.
“Everybody brings something to the table. The purpose here is to hang out together, to have fun, have something to do, some place to go, some focus in your life, social contact. That’s what it’s all about.”
That fellowship and just being a sympathetic ear for someone has been hugely important, McKernan and Kjargaard said.
“We’ve probably had more feedback than anybody else, from guys who come to us one-on-one to say, ‘the Men’s Shed changed my life, the Men’s Shed saved me,’” McKernan said.
“’I've been suffering for clinical depression. I've been on meds for 10 years. This the first winter I didn't take my meds, and I'm better off this year than I have been in 10 years, and I'm not taking drugs, right?’
“We've had guys come and say, ‘I've never been able to talk about my disenfranchised son, who's gay, and I've never been able to talk to anybody about it, but I can talk with some of the guys at the shed.’
“There's guys coming forward with their personal stories that are just incredible, and the impact it's having on that group of guys out there, it's transformational.”
Kjargaard and McKernan stressed that although many – or most – of the guys in the organization have experience and talent in building or repairing things, that’s not a necessary condition for joining the organization.
“You just have fun with what you can do,” McKernan said.
Kjargaard said, “Not everybody is comfortable or wants to be on the get-your-hands-dirty, fix and repair side of things."
He said on the bike side of things, there’s a need for people who can promote the free repaired bikes program to the community.
McKernan and Kjargaard were asked how the size of Cowling’s shop compares to what will be available in the former Town of Olds' Quonset.
It may end up being the same or a bit smaller, McKernan said, but that could be handled by splitting the club in two.
He noted that a Calgary Men’s Shed member told him their club split in two when the number of members hit 50 or 60.
He said even if the club doesn’t split in two “the bike guys would come Monday, Wednesdays, and the shop guys would come Tuesday, Thursdays. So we'd use the same facility, just not everybody all together, all at the same time.”
They’d still get together for meetings every two weeks at the Elks Hall, as they have been doing.
McKernan said the group has a great relationship with the Men’s Shed in Innisfail.
“They have been big brothers to us and helped us immensely when we were first starting,” he said.
“They saved us three months of labour and legwork, getting our society act together and getting all the bylaws sorted out. They just open-arm welcomed us, and they've been so supportive of us. They come down regularly.”
