No matter our walk in life, there is no more rewarding feeling than being able to build something with your own two hands. This was the goal for Tony (Anthony) Tree: to build something for his home.
To make this a reality, Stream Services support worker Mosese worked with Tony to plan, obtain materials and travel to the Men’s Shed in Clermont to make this happen.
However, there were some hurdles for Tony to overcome.
The first being deciding what to build. Tony originally wanted to build a desk for his home, however, after much research and with limited resources they had to forgo their original idea.
As Tony had recently been gifted a boxing bag for exercise and stress relief, Mosese suggested building a boxing bag stand instead. After watching DIY Youtube videos, Tony and Mosese planned a trip to Mitre 10 in Emerald to purchase the materials needed for this project.
It’s activities like these for participants of Stream Services that allow them to increase their independence, experience new people and places, and gain the skills and knowledge required to lead a more independent life.
Stream Services Founder Alec McConnell said that, with no options in Tony’s town of Tieri, Stream Services reached out to Clermont’s Men’s Shed to ask if they were able to work with Tony to facilitate this project.
Tony and Mosese showed up at Clermont’s Men’s Shed with the required timber and chain and a picture of what they wanted to make. Andy Plunkett, a retired manual arts teacher, started Tony off with measuring and cutting the timber, using the sanding bar, and drilling everything in place.
As Mosese explained, Andy’s experience as a retired teacher made him ideal for explaining and supervising in a way that Tony was able to comprehend and understand. It was a great learning experience for Tony as he was able to use all the machinery safely. Andy said Tony was quite good when it came to building, as he picked things up very quickly and didn’t mind going through all the safety routines.
“It was great for him to be able to connect with various members of Clermont’s Men’s Shed who will be able to assist him over the coming week to complete his project. It was great that Tony could use all the machinery to start his project which was a great learning experience for him”, Mosese said.
While there is still a way to go before Tony completes his boxing bag stand, this is an excellent example of the work that is being done at the Men’s Shed on Powerhouse Lane. Stream Services would like to thank everyone involved.
