Men's Table — Learn, share, reconnect

Intro · Men's Table

A place to learn,
to share, to reconnect.

Men's Table is a community for men in their sixties who keep learning, making, and gathering — finding new roles after retirement. We learn practical skills with our hands, and working shoulder to shoulder, we become friends without trying.

And with those same hands — for ourselves, for our families, for our neighbours, for the community — we make good things happen.

No lectures, no forced sentiment.
Just good people doing good work, together.

01 · Why now?

Open space can go two ways.

A man's sixties often arrive with a strange kind of freedom: the office, the daily crew, the business card — all quietly gone. There's more time than ever, yet fewer places to be.

And the longer those days are spent at home, the further away both people and new roles begin to drift.

8 million second-wave baby boomers reaching retirement

For men especially, the drop-off in social connection after retirement is steep.

But open space is also room to build. Retirement isn't empty time — it can be time to fill with a new life. If there are good people, and somewhere worth going back to.

02 · How it works

Start with the hands, carry on with people.

We move our hands first. The small win of learning by hand restores a quiet certainty: "I can still do this."

STEP 1

Skills

Small wins, learned by hand

Cooking, mending, making something together. Completing one real task rebuilds the confidence that comes from being good at something.

STEP 2

Mates

Strangers become friends

Working side by side, the man who felt awkward becomes a friend, and a familiar skill becomes a talent someone else needs.

STEP 3

Purpose

A reason to come back

A warm meal for family, food shared with neighbours, experience given where the community needs it. A role is what brings you back tomorrow.

We don't come here to pass the time. We come to learn with our hands, to stand alongside good people, and to be someone who's needed. Spent that way, your sixties are far more interesting than you'd expect.

03 · What's different

A different starting point.

Not a space for everyone — a space where men in their sixties feel at home from the first visit.

A space for everyone

A space that fits men in their sixties

Designed so that from the very first visit, the feeling is "I could do this here."

A participant

A person with a role

We don't hand out tasks. We build new roles around the experience and skill each man already carries. Not a seat to fill — someone genuinely needed.

Volunteering

A structure that recognises contribution

Goodwill alone burns out. Activity fees, role stipends, and community points give contribution real weight — and real staying power.

04 · The people behind it

Six organisations, one shared workshop.

The reach to find the men, the spaces to gather them, self-reliant operating models, and hands-on know-how — everything a Korean Men's Shed needs, built together.

The Asan Frontier Academy is a seven-month leadership programme run by the Asan Nanum Foundation. Men's Table is the real-world project of Academy Team 3, with backgrounds across community welfare, cooperatives, public volunteering, and social ventures.

Asan Nanum Foundation →

Bangahgol Welfare Center

방아골종합사회복지관

A Seoul nonprofit welfare organisation known for integrating health and social welfare, and for building local partnerships that promote community-based care and social inclusion.

bangahgol.or.kr ↗

Hundred Year Forest

백년의숲 사회적협동조합

A social cooperative advancing sustainability and community self-reliance through cooperative models of living and working.

forest100.org ↗

One Heart One Body

한몸한마음운동본부

A Catholic organisation founded in 1988 by the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, working across international development, domestic social welfare, and life-sharing movements.

ohob.or.kr ↗

Seoul Volunteer Center

서울시자원봉사센터

A public organisation under the Seoul Metropolitan Government coordinating volunteering across the city, alongside educational, research, and outreach activities.

volunteer.seoul.go.kr ↗

Zaneedle Inc.

재니들

A social venture pioneering a new clothing culture through visible mending — running hands-on repair workshops, ESG programmes, and sustainable circular-fashion content.

zaneedle.com ↗

05 · Apply for the workshop

Start the next
chapter with us.

Now enrolling · A workshop is open

A place you want to go every day. Where your role matters more than your name. Where you're needed — not only for yourself, but for your family and neighbours too.

Who · Retired men looking for a new role
How · Join an existing group, or help us start a new one together
Contact · k.goodhandsclub@gmail.com

Name *

Age group *

Phone *

Area

Activity you're drawn to

A note (optional)

Your application is in

We'll be in touch after reviewing it.
See you at Men's Table soon.

Introducing Men's Shedto Korea — A Public Hearing

Men's Table Learn. Share. Reconnect.

Open space can go two ways.