Thanks for the help
No organization stands alone in the service of its Members. We work with complimentary organizations who may also provide services to our target markets, which may fall outside our scope, capacity or mandate to deliver. We may receive data, intelligence, advice and hopefully wisdom from those who have gone before or who are walking a parallel path. Then there are those who provide direct financial assistance, or connections to the right people or whose words validate our organization and what we are trying to accomplish.
If we are doing it right there will be many worthy of our thanks, but a few will stand out. This is the place where we say so.
N.B. Click on a Logos to be taken to their web sites.
You can help our Shed
- Point us to that unused old shack or connect us with the keepers of those facilities.
- Spread the word of the Men's Shed movement, so Men who want it can find an existing Shed or form one of their own with a bit of encouragement from Men's Sheds Ontario.
- Send Sheds socially positive projects that need doing and are within our capacity to deliver.
- Donate your unused tools or surplus building materials to our cause.
- Help yourself. Come join us when the time is right for you.
- Send a little cash.
Partners and Sponsors
In the Spring of Feb 2022, Help Age Canada provided the Ottawa Makers Shed with a Startup Grant that enabled a group of guys with with no money, no members and no mandate, to rent a room, hold out first formation meeting, to kick off a new kind of Shed in Ottawa. That small grant, which came at the right time, was no small thing in helping us become what we are today.
The Men's Sheds movement in Ottawa all started with the Council on Aging of Ottawa.
In 2019, after looking to better serve the men in their target market, (i.e. getting them to come out to anything at all) the Council on Aging of Ottawa (COAO) learned of the Men's Shed movement. Late in 2019 COAO hosted a Men's Breakfast to recruit the core organizers of what would become Men's Shed Ottawa Centre (MSOC), which formed in early 2020.
COAO provided advice, connections, and moral support throughout the growth of three Men's Shed in Ottawa: Men's Shed Ottawa Centre (MSOC), Ottawa Makers Shed (OMS) and the Ambleside Men’s Shed (AMS).
The Canadian Men's Shed Association (CMSA) was conceived and built by Doug Mackie of Winnipeg Manitoba, the Grandfather of the first Men's Sheds in Canada. CMSA was incorporated in 2021. In 2022 at CMSA's first AGM Doug handed the reigns over to a newly elected Board of Directors who began the process of building a team to accelerate the number of sheds in Canada.
In 2022 the CMSA was renamed Men's Sheds Canada (MSC), with a new Mission, Vision and Values statement guiding our decisions thereafter.
Men's Sheds Ontario's objective is to aid in forming new sheds and enhancing the effectiveness of existing sheds.
We represent the collective needs of Ontario Sheds to government agencies, news agencies and potential sponsors.
Plus a whole lot more.
MSC benefitted from their expertise, advice when asked and encouragement when needed. MSO is out voice for provincial matters and they negotiated the Ontario Shed 's Liability Insurance Program.
Donors
Many tools donated to the Men’s Shed in Memory of Steve (Stephen) Stewart
Steve was an avid craftsman most of his life. While his work revolved around electricity, being a lineman for SaskPower throughout his career, he was also handy around the house.
From doing house renovations, building fences and decks, his passions lay more in making furniture (headboards, chairs, tables, end tables) to more decorative things like picture frames and jewelry/small boxes.
In his later years, Steve also spent more time doing carving and wood burning. The pictures below are just a small sample of some of the things he created during his lifetime.
The Stewart family has donated tools in 2 locations, some to the Lethbridge AB Men's Shed where he was living when he passed, and some to Ottawa Maker's Shed where he had left some of his larger tools with his son prior to moving to Alberta.
The tools our shed received were enough to start a workshop in themselves. The donation included a table saw, drill press, band saw, reciprocating saw, planer, jointer, and more!
Our thanks to Steve's son, Scott Stewart for co-ordinating the family's wishes and selecting our two Sheds to benefit.
Leon Surette
Leon is currently a Member of Men's Sheds Ottawa Centre. This Shed does not do Workshop related activities. In March 2024 Leon decided he no longer needed the Craftsman 13” Professional Thickness Planer in his basement workshop, he decided that we could use it more so he generously donated it to us. It is a wonderful example of inter-shed support.