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HAWAII 5-0 In 2016, Glenn Sears, an octogenarian and retired engineering professor who once built his own house by hand, was living in Honolulu, feeling bored and lonely. Although he’d grown

up in Hawaii, none of his old friends lived nearby, and he’d given away all his tools after moving to the 35th floor of a condominium building. “One day my wife comes in and says, ‘I’ve

found what you’ve been looking for,’ and showed me an article about Australian Men’s Sheds,” recalls Sears. He contacted the Australian Men’s Shed Association, hoping to find a U.S.-based

shed to join. “We wondered when you Yanks were going to start a men’s shed,” they said. “Glad that you’re willing to do it.” While attending a meeting of his wife’s Rotary Club, Sears

recruited four guys on the spot to help him start the shed.   On Wednesday and Saturday mornings about 100 men gather inside a 7,000-square-foot warehouse from 9 a.m. until whenever people

are ready to go home. The big draw is a treasure chest of tools donated through a Craig’s List ad. “We've got drill presses, lathes, tables saws,” Sears says proudly. “Old tools, but

excellent ones.” The shed’s first meeting spot was in an unused room inside of a senior center, but the parks department rescinded the offer at the first mention of power tools. “No sharp

objects,” they told him. A state senator who was excited about the idea offered the use of a vacant warehouse — if the men first removed the 28 tons of concrete debris littering the

property. Five-dozen volunteers joined the cleanup, some with their own jackhammers. Members are free to work on projects at the shed whenever they want to, so long as at least two people

are present and one is certified in first aid. At least one shed member is known to have been diagnosed with dementia. “He wasn’t able to speak a complete sentence when he started coming to

the shed,” Sears says. “But now he speaks pretty well when he’s here.” The tool that interests him most is a saw, which he plays as a musical instrument. “We all whistle songs we want to

hear, and that helps him remember the tunes,” explains Sears. Some Men's Sheds allow women to join. The Honolulu shed (pictured) has several female members. For a time they ranged in

age from a college student to a woman in her 90s. Photo by Howard Wolff BEHIND MANY GREAT MEN’S SHEDS WAS A GREAT WOMAN Not all Men’s Sheds are centered around making things. There’s not a

hammer or screwdriver in sight when the North County Men’s Shed convenes on Wednesday afternoons at a senior activity center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. “We don’t do woodworking but

otherwise we’re like other sheds,” says founder Steve Werner. “We share stories and build camaraderie, but we do it by offering presentations.” “WOMEN PLAY A BIG ROLE IN ENCOURAGING MEN TO

GET INVOLVED IN MEN’S SHEDS.”  — _Steve Werner, founder, North County Men's Shed_ Since the fall of 2018, shed members have learned CPR, tested new cooking appliances, practiced balance

exercises, boosted their financial literacy, explored the art of tapestry-making, boned-up on the warning signs of a computer scam, and enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of the Palm Beach

Zoo. Planned activities include a preview of future space exploration, a clinic on eye health, and a private viewing of the South Florida Science Center’s new exhibit about the brain.

Members also connect for breakfast and a regular round of potluck dinners. When Werner moved to Florida in 2016, he vowed to devote himself to golf. “But after about a year I started to get

bored,” he explains. As happened with Glenn Sears in Hawaii, his wife showed him a newspaper article. (This one was about the U.S. Men’s Shed Association.) Explains Werner: “So I got in

touch and they said there were none in South Florida, so I decided to start one.” Werner and three friends (one a woman) formed the steering committee. “Women play a big role in encouraging

men to get involved in Men’s Sheds,” he notes. Indeed, the very first men’s shed was launched by a woman named Maxine Kitto when, according to Barry Golding, a professor of adult education

and author of _The Men’s Shed Movement: The Company of Men_, she noticed that her organization’s health services aimed at older people in rural Australia were used primarily by women. Some

Men’s Sheds around the world have women members, and there are at least a half-dozen exclusively female sheds in Australia. But for many women, the value of Men’s Sheds is how they help the

men in their lives. When NBC’s _Today_ show aired a segment about a Men’s Shed in Traverse City, Michigan, the U.S. Men’s Shed Association received nearly 100 emails within three hours of

the broadcast, notes Phil Johnson. A good share of the messages were from women who believed their husband, father or male friends very much needed a shed.  PHOTO BY HOWARD WOLFF HOW TO

START A SHED 1. CONTACT AN EXISTING SHED Visit the U.S. Men’s Sheds Associations' website to see if there’s already a shed nearby. As of June 2019, there are four in Minnesota, three in

Hawaii, two in Wisconsin, and one each in Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, Washington and Florida. Groups are forming in Colorado, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Arizona. Advice from an existing

shed can be useful in starting a shed. (The Hopkins shed, for instance, mentored the founders of sheds in Minnesota and Wisconsin.) 2. FIND A HOST Aligning with a local service organization

or public facility is often the easiest, cheapest and fastest way to get rolling. On the down side, a shed may be bound by the rules, hours and liability concerns of the group or location.

Most sheds like the convenience of an established meeting place that is familiar to people. Others have opted to strike out on their own. The guide _Starting a Men’s Shed_ from the U.S.

Men’s Sheds Association lays out the details of each approach.   3. FORM A WORKING GROUP These can be friends and neighbors with a shared interest or experience organizing informal

informational events. Get together to craft a vision for the shed, and then map out ways to make it happen. Local nonprofits, charities, community organizations and social service agencies

can all be helpful in spreading the word to potential members as will publications and social media channels geared toward older residents. Don’t try to do the work alone, counsels Steve

Werner of the Palm Beach County shed. He enlisted three acquaintances as a Men’s Shed steering committee. “We all sat around my table the night before our first public meeting, asking one

another, 'Do you think anyone will come?' Eight people showed up and we’ve been going ever since.” 4. BE FLEXIBLE And be ready to tweak your plans based on members’ preferences.

Johnson and his Hopkins shed cofounders were imagining a wood shop as their main activity. “But several who came weren’t woodworkers,” he explains, noting that in Ireland, which has more

Men’s Sheds per capita than any other nation, a common activity is singing and playing music together.  Glenn Sears reports that one of the most popular events for the Honolulu shed is about

grilling not drilling — the monthly “sausage sizzle,” which adopts the down-under term for a cookout to honor the Australian origins of the movement.  _Jay Walljasper is a Minnesota-based

journalist and author of _The Great Neighborhood Book_. He writes, speaks and consults about livable communities.  _ _Page published June 2019_