Woodcrafter Keeps Hands Busy While Raising Funds for Maternal Health

Fred Quist’s first woodworking show and sale was back in 2010, and December 2022 marks his final event, although he says he certainly won’t be giving up the hobby. That is no surprise since Quist has been working with wood since childhood. After a full career in the ministry spanning from the early 1950s until 2004, Quist and his wife Silvia retired to Neepawa and the first thing he did, he says, was set up a wood shop in his new garage.

“I don’t do nothing well,” says Quist, and he credits his woodworking with having a particular benefit for his mental health after retirement. It’s so important, he says, for men as they get older to continue to have a purpose in life. It can be as simple as collecting stamps or scrapbooking, but when the “busy-ness” has come to a halt, men can be plagued by mental issues and cultivating a hobby as well as connections with others in their situation - such as through the Men’s Shed - can help to ease their transition.

This was never felt more keenly than during a bout with cancer in 2014. Quist was unable to use any of his usual tools during that period and if not for taking up a new craft - hand carving wooden figurines, in this case - he wouldn’t have known what to do with himself.

Quist’s charity of choice has remained the same throughout his retirement career as a woodworker. Compassion Canada’s Child Survival Program brings aid to mothers and young children in developing countries. Quist has spent all year accumulating enough wood-crafted items to hold his annual show, including figurines, toys, puzzles, intarsia wall hangings, and more, and all money raised is going directly to Compassion Canada.

While there will be no show and sale in 2023, Quist says that he will keep crafting, just at a smaller volume, and that could include some special requests from people who can’t imagine not getting more of Quist’s creations.