Community Bank Maldon & District lending manager Lara Mulholland recently bought a new coat but didn’t want to go through the bother of trying to sell her old one privately, send it to landfill or drop into op shops which are often overloaded. She enquired about a coat drive online and couldn’t find anything in our local area, hence The Good Coat Drive was born.

Community Bank Maldon & District is partnering with The Good Op Shop in Castlemaine and Haven; Home Safe (the regional housing support service in Bendigo) to run The Good Coat Drive throughout May and June.

We are inviting the public to donate their old but good-condition coats to The Good Coat Drive so that those sleeping rough or struggling to keep warm this winter will have a little bit of extra help. “It was important to partner with experts like Haven; Home Safe who are already connected to those who need the support and it was great that they were open to being part of this initiative,” said Maldon Community Bank’s Executive Officer, Shannon Burdeu. “Being a local Community Bank, we can have an immediate and direct impact in our region, and it makes such a difference when we can partner with organisations that support some of our most vulnerable residents.”

Tiffany Inglis, Director of The Good Op Shop in Castlemaine, was thrilled to be approached to get involved in the Good Coat Drive. “We have partnered with the Maldon Community Bank in the past for funds for a machine for Castlemaine Secondary College to shred plastic bottle lids, melt them down and turn them into a new product to sell,” said Tiffany, “so we feel very lucky to be a part of this team of different groups which are working together to get more to those in need. There are already enough clothes in the world now for many generations to come, so it’s just a matter of getting them to the right people. The Good Op Shop is keen to play a part in that–in sharing what exists so we don’t have to make new clothes and take the pressure off our natural resources.”

The Good Coat Drive is running now until June 30 and your good coats can be dropped at any of the following collection points:

• Maldon Community Bank, 81 High Street Maldon (Mon-Fri 9.30am-4pm, Sat 9am-12noon)
• Newstead Branch, Community Bank (RTC), 45 Lyons Street, Newstead (Mon-Thu 9am-1pm)
• Dunolly Branch, Community Bank (RTC), 109 Broadway, Dunolly (Mon-Fri 10am-2pm)
• The Good Op Shop, 4 Lewis Drive, Castlemaine (Thu-Sat 10am-4pm)

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 12 May 2023.