By Mikayla van Loon
Mooroolbark Men’s Shed has been the lucky recipient of an Australia Post grant to fund the purchase of new equipment for their toolbox.
Nominated as part of the People of Post grants by Mooroolbark Post Office worker Amy Tripovich, Men’s Shed president Ken Reid said it was a complete surprise.
“It was out of the blue, completely out of the blue. The fact that one of our guys picks up the mail down at the post office box for the club and the woman down there had a radio that didn’t work.
“She talked to Frank about it and said, he used to be an electrician and said, ‘I’ll take it up the shed and I’ll have a look’. Well he got it going and took it back and she was tickled pink and she was the one who put us in for the grant.”
Ms Tripovich said the Men’s Shed was the perfect candidate for the grant because of their commitment to providing a social gathering place for men and women.
“The Mooroolbark Men’s Shed supports both men and women in our community who may be at risk of isolation and loneliness due to factors such as loss of their partner, divorce or separation; unemployment or disability; or simply, retirement,” she said.
“The primary objective is to advance the health and well-being of its members and to encourage social inclusion and prevent social isolation. The Mooroolbark Men’s Shed, like Australia Post, values creating connection and genuinely listening to the members of our community.”
With the grant money, the Men’s Shed will be purchasing a laser engraver, something they had been wanting to do to expand their capabilities and branding.
“It will engrave anything, whether it’s glass, stainless steel or wood. What we can do, with the produce we make and sell down at Coles every second Tuesday and Saturday, we can write that it’s a project of Mooroolbark Men’s Shed,” Mr Reid said.
“I like to make the club known to the community and tell them what we do and hopefully they’ll come along and join.”
Mr Reid said the engraver can also be used to personalise the items they sell to be given as gifts by engraving special messages or names.
As a solely volunteer run organisation, Mr Reid said receiving grants such as this allows the Men’s Shed to put funds towards other things they might need.
“We’re always looking at improving, so there’s always tools to buy of different calibres. So by getting this grant, we can now channel some of our other money towards [buying] at a double belt sander. We’re looking at buying that at the moment,” he said.
Expanding and keeping things up-to-date is an important part of running the Men’s Shed and Mr Reid said he hopes it attracts more members.
“We’ve got about 34 or so. I would like more. We mainly do woodwork and steel but I’d like to branch further out.
“We’ve got an IT guy there that wants to teach computers. We’ve got another guy that was talking about wanting to do leather work. We’ve just put in three garden beds for the people who want to do gardening.
“We’re looking at expanding down whatever avenue. If a person comes in and they want to do something, I want to have a facility that’s a bit bigger [to allow for it].”
The Men’s Shed was also recently the recipient of some of Yarra Ranges Council’s solar panels, something that will also allow the volunteer group to ensure funds are going to bettering the Shed.
Council’s environment and infrastructure director Mark Varmalis said when the Civic Centre was being redeveloped a number of solar panels were removed but were still in great working order.
“These panels can now benefit community groups just as they benefitted Council, by reducing energy bills and their environmental footprint,” he said.
“For the Men’s Shed in particular, it means more of their budget can go into their materials and work for the community, rather than towards keeping the lights on.”
