JASPER – A group of local men have come together to launch the Jasper Men’s Shed to help address men’s mental health and offer help with smaller handyman projects.
The grand opening of the Men’s Shed, located adjacent to the Jasper Activity Centre, will take place on Saturday (May 10) from 2 to 4 p.m.
“We want to provide support to the community, and at the same time, the members develop relationships, friendships,” said Jasper Men’s Shed treasurer Kevin Lazzari.
Men’s Shed is an international organization that started in Australia in the 1990s as a way of addressing senior men’s mental health issues. It has since expanded to 15 countries around the world and has over 140 sheds operating across 10 provinces in Canada.
The Jasper chapter first needed to find a space. It took several months before the Municipality of Jasper offered to let them set up shop in the garage near the Jasper Aquatic Centre.
They were expecting to move in last September, but due to the wildfire, this was delayed until Feb. 6.
“At that point, this was just a big dark space full of muni stuff, so they moved out their stuff, and then we arranged to have it painted,” said Jasper Men’s Shed president Robin Marks.
The Men’s Shed has since been acquiring tools donated by various other individuals, and the municipality provided the electrical installation and the space itself free of charge.
The Jasper Men’s Shed currently has 13 members and hopes the grand opening will help add names to the membership list while showing the community what they are about.
“We started with a criteria of 55 or older [for members], and then we realized we should open it up to 18 and older because young guys, they need mentorship, and they want to be involved in projects in the community,” Lazzari said.
Members are not required to have a background in carpentry or other craftwork since the Men’s Shed provides them with an opportunity to learn from those with years of experience.
“That’s why I joined because I wanted to learn from [them]. There’s 1,000 years of experience in this room right now,” Lazzari joked.
Despite the Men’s Shed not being open yet, the group has already completed 24 projects for the community and undertakes this work free of charge. To work inside someone’s home, members must undergo a background check.
“It’s doing stuff that people need done, and either it’s too small or too expensive to hire a contractor, mostly too small,” Marks said. “It’s tough enough to find a contractor to do anything right now, obviously, and [it’s been] way worse since the fire.”
Finished projects include restoring benches, assembling planters, building a rolling TV stand for the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum, installing temporary Christmas lights on the 6015 steam engine on Connaught Street and creating a scale model of Della Senz’s iconic house for her 100th birthday.
“One of the things we had said right at the beginning was that we weren’t going to be contractors,” Marks said. “We’re not intending to take work away from people trying to make a living.”
Marks noted that the wildfire has exacerbated the amount of stuff that needs to get done and the lack of people to undertake small projects, such as fixing the scratches on a coffee table for a resident.
“That’s a weight off their shoulders, helps with the general stress relief and because the major part of the mandate to mention is men’s mental health, doing stuff like that helps with our mental health,” he said.
To learn more about the Jasper Men’s Shed or submit a project request, visit their . They also have .
