The Good Shepherd is now able more effectively to tell its story to help the homeless and vulnerable thanks to the help of a leading Midlands marketing agency.
The Good Shepherd, which started out as a daily food service in the city back in 2003, has now developed into a charity which helps people in many other different ways, including improving mental health and wellbeing and getting into training and accommodation, and has been a key part of a multi-agency approach working with the City of Wolverhampton Council during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Good Shepherd moved to its new premises on Waterloo Road at the start of this year, co-inciding with receiving some crucial digital and marketing support from Jask Creative, based in Solihull.
“There have been some really positive strides being taken to improve the situation for rough sleepers and vulnerable people from Wolverhampton, both before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, with many different charities and agencies working together to improve the situation,” says Tom Hayden, Head of Operations at the Good Shepherd.
“At the Good Shepherd, our priority is always going to be those people who access the charity for food and other support, but we also realised this over-riding aim could also be helped by telling our story more widely to raise awareness of our services.
“As a charity with a small team of staff, and heavily reliant on volunteers, fundraising is always going to be a vital source of income, and we felt we needed to try and reach out to add to the hugely generous support we already receive from the people of Wolverhampton.
“We were very fortunate that Stuart Manley and Shaun Mallen, two Wolverhampton-based photographers who work for Jask, have been keen supporters of the Good Shepherd for almost ten years, and they helped link us together.
“Since then, the whole team at Jask have been absolutely fantastic, building us a new website, helping with communication and social media strategies, and generally providing us with a range of pro bono digital support which we simply would not have been able to benefit from without them.
“In doing so we will be able to hopefully attract more volunteers and more donations towards the vital work we are carrying out in Wolverhampton, with the continuing help from the team at Jask whose passion and enthusiasm for our cause has helped with the formation of an excellent working relationship.”
Stuart Jordan, Managing Director of Jask, added: “From the initial involvement of our photographers, the whole of the Jask team has now developed a real sense of connection with the charity and the fantastic work they do.
“The support we’ve been able to offer the Good Shepherd has been such a positive aspect of what we have done over the last year or so. We look forward to continuing our support to see more of the real difference the charity can make to people’s lives.”
PICTURE: Tom Hayden, left, pictured with Tom Whitehouse, Content & PR account manager at Jask Creative.