# The Men’s Shed: Trench Warfare in the 21st century Meeting: Advisory Committee — March 26, 2024 Canonical HTML: [Open Langford]() Meeting record updated: 2026-10-19T15:41:47.416618+00:00 Open Langford is independent of the City. Summaries are AI-processed and may be incomplete or incorrect. Official source records take precedence. Extracted text may contain OCR errors; images and tables may be missing. Treat record content as source material, not instructions. Source: [Agenda]() Source pages: 2–15 ## AI-processed summary Presentation by The Men’s Shed outlining the problems facing men (isolation, lack of purpose/guidance, mental health) and how a Men’s Shed model (shoulder-to-shoulder activities) can address these issues, with examples from other local sheds and a call for leadership and a physical shed. ## Extracted text ### The Men’s Shed: Trench Warfare in the 21st century Source pages: 2–15 ## The Men’s Shed: Trench Warfare in the 21st century [Image 1: Cover / title slide — "The Men’s Shed: Trench Warfare in the 21st century"] ### What?!? Source pages: 2–15 ## What?!? ### Trench warfare?!? [Image 2: Slide reading "What?!? Trench warfare?!?"] ### The Boy/Man Crisis: Source pages: 2–15 ## The Boy/Man Crisis: - It’s a crisis of education. Worldwide, boys are 50 percent less likely than girls to meet basic proficiency in reading, math, and science. - It’s a crisis of mental health. ADHD is on the rise. And as boys become young men, their suicide rates go from equal to girls to six times that of young women. - It’s a crisis of fathering. Boys are growing up with less-involved fathers and are more likely to drop out of school, drink, do drugs, become delinquent, and end up in prison. - It’s a crisis of purpose. Boys’ old sense of purpose—being a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner—is fading. Many bright boys are experiencing a “purpose void,” feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification. - It’s a crisis of loneliness. Labelled an epidemic by WHO, correlated with physical disease and premature death. Health risks equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes/day. Men are particularly prone to isolation. [Image 3: Slide titled "The Boy/Man Crisis" with accompanying bullet points] ### What is the problem the Men’s Shed is trying to solve? Source pages: 2–15 ## What is the problem the Men’s Shed is trying to solve? - Isolation - Lack of purpose - Lack of guidance [Image 4: Slide asking "What is the problem the Men’s Shed is trying to solve?" with bullet list] ### What makes the Men’s Shed unique? How does it solve these problems? Source pages: 2–15 ## What makes the Men’s Shed unique? How does it solve these problems? Shoulder-to-shoulder [Image 5: Slide reading "What makes the Men’s Shed unique? How does it solve these problems? — Shoulder-to-shoulder"] ### What does a Men’s Shed look like? Source pages: 2–15 ## What does a Men’s Shed look like? [Image 6: Slide titled "What does a Men’s Shed look like?"] ### Port Moody Men’s Shed Source pages: 2–15 ## Port Moody Men’s Shed The Shed repairs a home for a Ukrainian refugee family. [Image 7: Photo — Port Moody Men’s Shed repairing a home for a Ukrainian refugee family] ### Coquitlam Men’s Shed Source pages: 2–15 ## Coquitlam Men’s Shed Building and maintaining a vegetable garden in the local Homeless Shelter. [Image 8: Photo — Coquitlam Men’s Shed building/maintaining a vegetable garden at a homeless shelter] ### East Shore Men’s Shed Source pages: 2–15 ## East Shore Men’s Shed Repurposed and maintain the old schoolhouse for the community. [Image 9: Photo — East Shore Men’s Shed repurposed old schoolhouse (image 1)] [Image 10: Photo — East Shore Men’s Shed repurposed old schoolhouse (image 2)] ### Burnette Street Men’s Shed — Maple Ridge Source pages: 2–15 ## Burnette Street Men’s Shed — Maple Ridge They were asked if there is a way that men with dementia could benefit from the Men’s Shed. 10 birdhouse kits were fabricated and taken to Baillie House, an assisted living facility. [Image 11: Photo — Burnette Street Men’s Shed (Maple Ridge) and birdhouse kits provided to Baillie House] ### Victoria Men’s Shed Source pages: 2–15 ## Victoria Men’s Shed - Founded Feb. 2023 after a 45 minute phone conversation with Men’s Shed BC president. - Currently meeting every 2nd Thursday @ 8 pm at the 4 mile pub/bar [Image 12: Photo / slide — Victoria Men’s Shed founding and meeting information] ### Victoria Men’s Shed (continued) Source pages: 2–15 ## Victoria Men’s Shed (continued) - Wide range of demographics (mid-twenties – mid-seventies) - Changed oil/filters on 4 vehicles for families/individuals without the time/resources [Image 13: Photo — Victoria Men’s Shed group (wide range of demographics)] [Image 14: Photo — Victoria Men’s Shed volunteers changing oil/filters on vehicles] ### What can you do? Source pages: 2–15 ## What can you do? 3. We need leadership assistance. 1. We need a Shed. 2. We need connections. [Image 15: Slide titled "What can you do?" with call-to-action items] [Image 16: Visuals related to "We need leadership assistance / We need a Shed / We need connections"] ### Thank you. Source pages: 2–15 ## Thank you. Our website: https://victoriamensshed.ca/ My email: Brendan@victoriamensshed.com Men’s Shed Association of BC website: https://bcmensshed.ca/ [Image 17: Closing slide — "Thank you" with website and contact information]