ABOUT US | Eagles Wings China

Eagles Wings China is located in Jiaozuo, Henan Province in Central China and our home office is located in Gympie, Queensland, Australia.

COAT Inc. is registered in China with the Department of Civil Affairs at the City level.

We also have a sub-branch registered in the United Kingdom.

Our team in Jiaozuo

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Our Team

Founder / CEO / Visionary / President (2000 - 2023) Honorary Life Member

Linda Shum first visited the Jiaozuo Social Welfare Institution in the Henan Province in April 1998. She fell in love with the children and the rest is history. She and her husband Greg founded COAT Inc. in 2000.

After working inside the walls of the Social Welfare Institute for eight years, creating a preschool and a therapy program, and providing nutritional enhancements, it became evident that with little supervision and nobody to provide limits or guidance, the school-aged children in the orphanage were growing up without the necessary skills to become productive adults. Linda and the COAT team soon realised that to have a real and lasting impact on these children, they would need to make significant changes to the role that COAT played in their lives. In December 2006, just weeks after the death of her beloved husband, Linda returned to China to open the first of our Eagles Wings Foster Homes to provide family group homes for children from the orphanage.

In October 2013, after many years of hard work, our project known as Eagles Wings China was officially registered with the Chinese Department of Civil Affairs. We are registered in China as "Meng Lin Er Tong Jia Yuan" which means "Linda's dream home for children".

At the age of 75, Linda remains as passionate as ever about fulfilling the mission statement for the abandoned and disabled children of Jiaozuo. She has travelled to China many times and continues to raise much needed funding and awareness to support our work in China.

Current President / Committee Member / Co-Director of Education (2011 - 2022)

Michelle Baumgartner first began to support COAT Inc. when she and her husband were going through the International Adoption Program in 2007. Michelle had reconnected with her teaching colleague Linda and began to sponsor a child in Jiaozuo.

In 2009, Michelle travelled to China with her mother Carolyn and daughter Jess, to meet the children in the Eagles Wings Foster Homes. They stayed with the children and fell in love. Part of that trip involved a visit to the Orphanage school (started by Linda and taken over by the Orphanage in previous years) and it became apparent to Michelle and Carolyn that there was a need to improve conditions in the school. Six months later, Michelle and Carolyn returned to China and worked with another mother / daughter team from the United Kingdom to set up a new school for the children from the Eagles Wings Foster Homes. This involved purchasing resources, training teachers and modelling teaching skills and strategies.

Michelle has travelled to China many times, with and without her family. Most trips have involved intensive teacher training, purchasing of resources, visiting other schools and orphanages, supporting teachers to create individual learning plans for students and providing professional development for staff, local foster families and orphanage staff.

She has a deep love for the Chinese people and Chinese history and culture and remains committed to supporting families with children with special needs in Jiaozuo.

What is the role of our Management Committee?

Chinese Orphans Assistance Team Inc (COAT Inc) in Australia provides oversight for our foundation’s projects in China.

■ Eagles Wings China Foster Homes Project
■ Xi Wang Le Yuan Education School Project
■ Meng Lin Er Tong Jia Yuan (a registered non-profit organisation)

As well as overseeing other fundraising and advocacy projects managed by COAT UK in the United Kingdom and Spain.

The Management Committee is also responsible for all sponsorships and fundraising, volunteer applications, and for records and reporting to our partners at Global Development Group and AusAID that allow COAT Inc. to have tax-deductible status in Australia/USA and New Zealand.

Meng Lin Er Tong Jia Yuan "Linda’s Dream Children’s Homes” is our registered NGO in China established initially to provide a family environment for children from the Social Welfare Institute and from other orphanages in Jiaozuo, in which to grow, be nurtured, and loved, and learn skills for independent living.

Since 2013, the school set up by this organization has been a registered special school offering education to children with special needs. The children come from COAT foster homes (Eagles Wings), local families whose disabled children have not previously been able to attend school, local foster families and the Jiaozuo Social Welfare Institute (orphanage).

Our COAT UK office manages fundraising, advocacy, and sponsors in the United Kingdom and Europe. COAT UK was registered as a UK company and as a charity in 2011.