Summerland resident hopes to help men connect, do good in the community with the "Men's Shed" movement

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Hoping to help out different people in the community, one Summerland resident has started up a local "Men's Shed" movement in the area, to connect others and put their skills to good use.

Stephen Clout attended a few of the Men's Shed meetings in Penticton after reading about it and decided a group of him and his friends wanted to jump in as well.

The Men's Shed movement originally started in Australia in the 1990s and has since spread around the globe.

The idea is a space for men to gather and work "shoulder-to-shoulder" on projects, sharing skills and knowledge, building friendships and increasing physical, mental and emotional well-being.

"I have sort of selfish reasons for getting into it because I want to look after my own mental health. We have others that are in sort of the same boat, so I think they would probably jump in as well," Clout said.

"Men's mental health is something that doesn't always get discussed openly in the shops or in the meeting between men, but it is a concern, isn't it?"

Clout met up with Ben Last, who runs the meetings in Penticton, and got his own underway on Nov. 30.

Nearly 20 Men's Sheds are now in British Columbia, with over 2,000 members collectively, seeing men of all ages from 18 and up make connections.

"What we'd like to do is to be able to offer the services that some of the men have, there's a pretty wide range of experience and skill here, too. I think we could cover off almost anything that came at us," Clout said.

"I think there's often a need for people that are recently widowed, or recently divorced, and your spouse used to take care of a lot of this stuff in the household and all of a sudden, the spouse isn't there anymore. And what do you do."

In speaking with the Summerland Food Bank, Clout discovered that there are a lot of seniors that call in looking for help with certain issues or repairs but they don't know where to go.

"I think that's probably a good niche, a good place to start for us."

Clout has arranged for the Summerland Food Bank to keep a record of the calls in and then give the group a shout to see if they can figure out what to do.

Be it a broken screen door, getting a lawn motor started or learning more about what to look for if your car has some trouble, the guys want to be there to help.

"I want to emphasize that we're not a commercial enterprise. Nobody gets paid on anything that's done, if a person wishes to make a donation or whatever we will direct that right to the food bank for now."

He also wanted to provide a space for men when they want to try learning something new without going into a formal classroom.

"There's plenty of people here that have many years of experience in woodworking, or mechanics, accounting, teaching, and so on."

Clout said they want the group to be a positive space for improvement.

With just a few meetings under their belt, the local group is in its early stages and hoping to see others come join.

They currently have a group running on Wednesdays at 4 o'clock. With no set location currently, they choose the location ahead of time and let members know where to go. Any interested men are welcome to attend. The next meeting will be held after the holidays, on Jan. 4.

Anyone in Penticton wanting to get involved can reach out to [email protected] or follow them on Facebook here.

Learn more about the Men's Shed movement in general online here.