Collingwood has today welcomed Coles as its Major Community Partner, a combination with historic roots that is committed to helping alleviate Melbourne’s homelessness crisis.
The partnership comes 104 years after Coles founder GJ Coles established his first variety store in Smith Street, Collingwood.
Collingwood and Coles will work together to support a range of initiatives to make a genuine difference in the community, including targeted programs to assist people facing disadvantage.
Over the next three years, Coles’ unique community partnership with Collingwood will enable the club’s Magpie Nest program to expand day and overnight services for homeless people in Melbourne.
Over the period of the partnership, Coles’ support as Collingwood Football Club’s Major Community Partner aims to:
- More than double the number of free meals being served each week at the Magpie Nest Salvation Army Café in the CBD, increasing from 2,000 to over 4,000 meals per week.
- More than double the availability of safe accommodation for homeless Victorians from 45 houses today to over 100 houses providing support services and safe accommodation for over 300 people experiencing homelessness.
- Further develop a program supporting over 50 women at risk due to family violence, sexual assault and disadvantage.
- Expand an existing service at the Magpie Nest Salvation Army Café to increase emergency supplies of essential items and food to people in crisis.
Coles will also support women’s sport and disability programs and Community Centre at Victoria Park and help the growth of the club’s increasing community sports presence through school visits, junior football and netball club clinics.
Collingwood President Eddie McGuire said: “This is not a partnership designed to support our elite sporting teams. Collingwood has a long and proud history of helping vulnerable people in our society and this partnership will ‘turbo-charge’ those endeavours.
“We seek a major role of social responsibility in our community and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Coles to help people who experience disadvantage, homelessness and isolation.”
Coles Managing Director John Durkan said the partnership aimed to fight homelessness and support people facing disadvantage in Melbourne.
“Both Collingwood Football Club and Coles share a common history, being founded in the suburb of Collingwood during tough economic times and years of depression. Coles started out in Collingwood over 100 years ago with a mission to make groceries affordable for everyone in the community and Coles family members became passionate Collingwood supporters,” he said.
“A century later, we are delighted to reconnect with Collingwood to help support people facing hardship in our community.”
Salvos Melbourne Project 614 leader Major Brendan Nottle welcomed the partnership to support Melbourne’s homeless people.
“We are excited and grateful to Coles and Collingwood for their tremendous support,” Nottle said.
“Partnerships like this are vital if we are to resolve the many issues facing people who experience homelessness in Melbourne. The involvement of important community organisations such as Collingwood and Coles sends a powerful message to people who are vulnerable and isolated that they are deeply valued, that they are not forgotten, and that there is a pathway out of homelessness.”
In addition to services for homeless people, the partnership will provide support for a range of other initiatives including:
- Collingwood Community Centre at Victoria Park
- Collingwood VFL Wheelchair Team and initiatives for people with a disability
- Grassroots programs supporting the development of netball and women’s football
- Education programs promoting equal opportunity, health and wellness and leadership
- Indigenous and multicultural programs
Background – Magpie Nest
Magpie Nest is a program run in partnership between the Collingwood Football Club and Salvation Army 614 Team.
The Salvation Army Project 614 Team is funded by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Magpie Nest Café also receives generous support from the City of Melbourne.
Magpie Nest aims to make a genuine difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness by providing a network of support services and safe, affordable accommodation – and a pathway out of homelessness.
The program also provides dedicated support services for women affected by the trauma of domestic violence or disadvantage.
- Currently over 100,000 people around Australia are homeless and around 250 people sleep on the streets of Melbourne’s CBD each night.
- Each night over 180 people report to the Magpie Nest Café seeking shelter and support and a safe place to sleep.
- Sadly, increasing numbers of women are also experiencing homelessness due to domestic violence and disadvantage.
Coles family members and Collingwood representatives celebrating the 1958 VFL Premiership. From (L-R): Harry Sullivan, Bill Mounsey (Coles), Frank Tuck, Thorold Merrett, Sir Edgar Coles, Murray Weideman and Robert Coles.
