OCEAN Grove & District Men\u2019s Shed officially opened last week, nine years after its first meeting took place.<\/p>\n
Patron Jason Corless officially opened the shed on behalf of the Corless family during the celebratory event, which was attended by men\u2019s shed volunteers and their families, members of parliament, councilrepresentatives and sponsors.<\/p>\n
Coordinator Bruce Ward said the opening had been a long time coming, but it wasn\u2019t until now that the men felt they had a permanent home to officially open.<\/p>\n
\u201cUp until now we have considered ourselves to be in temporary premises,\u201d Mr Ward said.<\/p>\n
The inaugural meeting was held in September 2009 under the auspice of the Ocean Grove Neighbourhood Centre, and their first workshop began operating at Queenscliff Neighbourhood House in July 2010.<\/p>\n
The men moved to factory 1 at their present location in Smithton Grove in August 2011.<\/p>\n
The members turned the factory into a temporary shed.<\/p>\n
Ed Corless agreed to provide the shed rent free for two years, and eventually gave the men factories 2 and 3 in 2014.<\/p>\n
Mr Ward said rent never ended up being charged, and the shed entered into a three-year lease with two three-year extensions in 2015 at a \u201cpeppercorn\u201d rent.<\/p>\n
Grants of $30,000 from the state government and $10,000 from the federal government were received to carry out refurbishment of the sheds they worked in.<\/p>\n
Jason said his father Ed was very proud of the men who put their own blood, sweat and tears into building the facility to what it was today.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father Ed had a very big soft spot for the association, this shed, he was proud to have played a very small part in what the shed has come to today,\u201d Jason said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think my father was proud of the men of this shed, the men who built this shed with whatever they could, whatever they had and whatever they received in donations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the men who built this shed, the men who came up with an idea and they worked hard and built it with their own hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jason said making the most out of everything, and every opportunity was who his father was.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father was also a man who liked to plan things \u2013 he was a pre-planner,\u201d Jason said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo before he passed away, he made sure this building would be able to continue and run into the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo in his estate, he has made a provision that this facility will continue as the Ocean Grove Men\u2019s Shed as long as the men\u2019s shed would like to use this facility, and further to that, the family has committed to support the shed with funding and assistance for the future as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s shed will now be known as the Ed and Win Corless Centre.<\/p>\n
Mr Ward said men\u2019s sheds were an investment in safe, shared spaces they had created, which enabled members to remain confident, connected and productive members of their local community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government, both state and federal, fund us as a men\u2019s health initiative and we are having to report back, particularly at the state-wide level, on health outcomes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that over the last 18 months we have actively prevented three men from moving from suicide ideation to completion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we are very successful in getting men socially included back into our community and reducing homelessness, which is now considered to be a major health issue of senior men.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OCEAN Grove & District Men\u2019s Shed officially opened last week, nine years after its first meeting took place. Patron Jason Corless officially opened the shed on behalf of the Corless family during the celebratory event, which was attended by men\u2019s shed volunteers and their families, members of parliament, councilrepresentatives and sponsors. Coordinator Bruce Ward said […]<\/p>\n