Club Meeting - Guest Speaker: Mike Trojan

Mike Trojan will speak about the Hawaii Men's Shed Association, an organization our Club has been supporting for the last several years, since its inception.

https://hawaiimensshed.org/

Sheds are a place for men to gather and socialize in a purposeful way. The men take on projects that benefit the members and the community. It has also been shown that men’s health significantly declines after they leave their jobs. They often isolate themselves and if they are married, often become a bother to their spouses at home. These isolated men typically have poor quality of life and a shortened life-span compared to women. By creating a space for men to socialize, these men are more motivated to be with others and in turn pay better attention to their health.

It’s a community group mainly, though not exclusively, for older men, outfitted with woodworking tools and other intrigues, a coffee pot, pamphlets on health initiatives and a friendly atmosphere. Members join to make and repair stuff and to tinker. They wind up making friends and, in the end, pursuing troubling health issues. Multiple public health studies have shown that Men’s Shed members around the world live longer, healthier, happier lives. The Shedders, now 60+ members strong, are organizing a speakers group to visit Rotary Clubs and other organizations throughout the Islands to present the message af the Mens' Shed movement and to encourage enthusiasm and sponsorship for other community Men’s Sheds. Members are now discussing membership drives and fundraisers. The Shedder's vision is to establish and maintain venues where members can meet, engage in projects of choice, have fun, make friends and address health issues; venues that ensure Men’s Shed’s development into valuable community facilities supported by a thriving, diverse and active membership drawing on each other’s skills, knowledge, wisdom and friendship. The Men’s Shed motto “Shoulder to Shoulder” comes from the observation that men don’t talk face to face, they talk shoulder to shoulder. It is often this simple insight that resonates with people new to the concept of the Men’s Shed.