April 18, 2013
The South Burnett Regional Council yesterday approved a $3000 grant to establish a Men’s Shed in Nanango High School’s grounds.
The money will come from the $250,000 Flexible Funding program, a State Government grant the council has been struggling to spend before the program winds up on June 30.
At yesterday’s council meeting, Councillors heard Nanango High School’s P&C Committee had previously submitted an application on behalf of the Nanango Action Group requesting $3700 from the Fund to establish a Nanango Men’s Shed.
The original application had been rejected because it failed to meet the program’s guidelines.
But in light of a sudden change of direction by the State Government last month, which altered the program’s focus from “disaster recovery” to “disaster preparedness”, the school was invited to resubmit its application.
Yesterday Flexible Funding Review Committee chairman Cr Keith Campbell said the resubmitted application had been forwarded to the Department of Local Government and Planning and had been approved, less a $700 component for insurance – an ongoing cost the Fund wouldn’t pay for.
“The Nanango Men’s Shed will provide a place for local men to undertake hobbies, relay stories ands offer each other personal support,” he said.
“This is a great initiative and it is timely as research shows that men more commonly suffer from emotional distress many for months and sometimes years after a disaster.”
Similar programs which are being run in Murgon and Kingaroy are successfully helping men reach out for support.
Cr Barry Green – a long-time advocate of the project – said the Men’s Shed will have “far reaching and very beneficial effects” for the Nanango community, and thanked the Flexible Funding Review Committee for their support.
The Men’s Shed will be established in the old Nanango High School manual arts classroom, which is no longer being used by the school.
The church had also been thinking about establishing a shed, and it was thought this location would provide better access to the public than the school grounds.
More than $50,000 funding had been accessed for the project and work would begin soon.
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