{"id":33468,"date":"2023-08-17T20:48:31","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T00:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=33468"},"modified":"2023-08-17T20:48:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T00:48:32","slug":"mens-shed-aims-to-foster-fellowship-among-seniors-retirees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/mens-shed-aims-to-foster-fellowship-among-seniors-retirees\/","title":{"rendered":"Men\u2019s Shed aims to foster fellowship among seniors, retirees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Dave LeGallais retired from his veterinary practice about 15 years ago, he looked forward to a life of golf and tennis. Yet, after a few turns around the links and a couple of volleys on the court, he found \u201cthat just didn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once he got involved in the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre leadership, however, he entered what he describes as \u201cthe best seven years of my retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What made the difference, he says, was staying active, being involved and making a difference \u2013 and the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Association (ASA) hopes to foster more opportunities like this when they introduce the Men\u2019s Shed concept to the Centre this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, August 30, from 9.30 \u2013 11.30 a.m., the ASA will host its inaugural Men\u2019s Shed Breakfast, a chance for all ASA members and the community at large \u2013 men and women alike \u2013 to learn more about the concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Men\u2019s Shed program is one that took root in Australia and has since spread around the world, including several chapters across Ontario.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its goal is to \u201cenhance and enrich the mental and physical health of retired men,\u201d a sometimes overlooked demographic when it comes to mental health challenges like depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its heart, according to Men\u2019s Shed Ontario, is to provide \u201csomewhere to go, something to do, someone to talk to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a community-based, not-for-profit organization that provides a safe and friendly environment where men can work on meaningful projects, at their own pace, in their own time, in the company of other men. It\u2019s a place where some men learn, some teach, and some are happy to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program came onto the radar of the ASA a few months ago when a Men\u2019s Shed member from Vancouver spoke to LeGallais, along with Karie Papillon and Andrew Bailey of the Town of Aurora, about the possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main concept was the fact that men, once they retire, become lonely and they just kind of shrink into themselves,\u201d says LeGallais. \u201cMen don\u2019t phone up their friends all the time or get involved like women do, so when men retire most of them just think they\u2019ve got a lot of things they\u2019re finally going to do; in the first year, they finish their basement or whatever, but after that they sometimes go into depression, get lonely, and the highest suicide rate for the male population in Australia is men over 65 years-of-age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt started up with a couple of guys in their garage and just working on some woodwork and it developed into five or ten guys. Somebody set up another chapter and they started spreading all over Australia. The government supported them and they found that the suicide rate in that group of men decreased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMen don\u2019t phone up and talk to each other like women do; they become antisocial and the more antisocial they become the less they want to socialize \u2013 it\u2019s a real cycle. I know in my own instance, I retired about 15 years ago and started playing golf and tennis, but that just didn\u2019t do it. It kills a few hours a day, but once I got involved in the Seniors\u2019 Centre and got on the Board, those have been the best seven years of my retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the day, this sense of fulfilment is just what the Men\u2019s Shed concept is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While still in its early days, LeGallais would like to see the local chapter dig deep over the next few months dig deep into what men interested in joining might want to get out of it. On his part, he foresees a model that includes guest speakers, card games, exercise programs, woodshop initiatives, and getting out into the local community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat some of these Men\u2019s Sheds do is they get involved in the community so say a lady has a house and a broken door, some of these Men\u2019s Sheds will go to their house and repair either the door or whatever these people want, if it is within their capabilities, and they do work out there in the community, which I think is a great idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just want people to know the Men\u2019s Shed program is going to help the mental and physical wellbeing of a retired man and let them go from there. It is going to give them somewhere to go, something to do, and people to talk with and socialize with. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. Our main basis will likely be from our own members but I am hoping we get people from Aurora and the surrounding area to come out and see if they like the idea. If they like the idea they can come to some of these programs we\u2019re starting depending on what programs and activities turn them on \u2013 and I think a lot of wives will like it because it will get their husbands out of the house!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re interested in being a part of the Men\u2019s Shed inaugural breakfast, RSVP to auroramensshed@gmail.com<\/a> by August 21. Men and women are both welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Dave LeGallais retired from his veterinary practice about 15 years ago, he looked forward to a life of golf and tennis. Yet, after a few turns around the links and a couple of volleys on the court, he found \u201cthat just didn\u2019t do it.\u201d Once he got involved in the Aurora Seniors\u2019 Centre leadership, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8HO","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-16 07:59:30","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}