A crowd of people were eagerly waiting outside the doors of MADCOW's new op shop, which officially opened on Saturday, August 19.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The op shop, located at 315 Eaglehawk Road, California Gully, replaces the not-for-profit homelessness support organisation's former store at Hargreaves Street, which is being renovated into a fit-for-purpose homeless hub.
Director of MADCOW (Make A Difference, Change Our World), Matthew Parkinson said he was overwhelmed by the response on Saturday morning, but it proved the hard work paid off.
MORE NEWS:
"The amount of work has been huge," he said. "It was a workshop for 40 years, so everything was black."
"Staff and volunteers have worked for the last six weeks, really transforming it [for] hours and hours and then moving out of the op shop has been huge itself... it has been a mammoth effort."
Mr Parkinson said the homeless services provided at Hargreaves Street had grown significantly, which was a "good problem to have".
"Once we went with the new homeless services model that we want to do at the hub, the op shop had to move," he said.
The op shop was twice as big as the old one, Mr Parkinson said, with better facilities including outdoor space and offices.
The purchase of the new building was made possible through a million-dollar donation from Sidney Myer and a half-a million-dollar donation from an anonymous community member, with money from donations also going to the build of the new hub.
"All the money from [the op shop] will go back into service homeless services," Mr Parkinson said. "That's the idea of it and that's why the bigger the better and the more money it can generate for us."
OTHER NEWS:
Mr Parkinson said while the Hargreaves Street op shop has closed, homelessness services including meals, laundry and showers were still running.
"We are working with Bendigo Community Health Services to find a temporary site and so we'll be out in a few weeks and ready for as soon as we can begin the works," he said.
Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with the Bendigo Advertiser app. Click here to download.
Jonathon Magrath
Jonathon has been living and working in Bendigo since March 2021, currently working as a general reporter. Contact him on jonathon.magrath@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Jonathon has been living and working in Bendigo since March 2021, currently working as a general reporter. Contact him on jonathon.magrath@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
