Latest / Neighbourly: Real Stories of Care and Community / How Good Work Gets Seen
Transcript
- 0:01When I think of stories, I think of them kind of like welcome
- 0:05mats. And in Canada, when you go to somebody's door,
- 0:09you stop at that mat, take off your shoes before
- 0:12you enter in. And part of that's just good housekeeping. That's just how
- 0:16Canadians roll. But then it's also like a time
- 0:20of transition. You're entering into somebody's space,
- 0:23you're entering into their world, and you share
- 0:27something in common. That, that moment, you share that time in common.
- 0:31And I think stories do that for us. They invite us to step
- 0:35into somebody else's life and we kind of take off our
- 0:39shoes in humility. There's something sacred about it's their
- 0:43story to share and to just listen and be present.
- 0:47What makes a story stick? Not just the facts, not
- 0:51just the headline, but the moment when you realize there's a real person
- 0:55behind it. On this podcast, we spend a lot of time
- 0:58listening to those moments. Stories of neighbors showing up for one
- 1:02another. Stories that remind us that compassion isn't just an idea.
- 1:06It's something ordinary people live out every day. But today's
- 1:09episode is a little bit different. Instead of hearing one story
- 1:13from a guest, we're pulling back the curtain on something that sits underneath
- 1:17many of the stories that you hear on Neighborly. How stories are shared,
- 1:21how they're seen, and why the way we communicate them actually
- 1:24matters. You'll hear from someone many of you already know, Wendy
- 1:28Park, the founder of Care/Impact. She's joined by her sister Dorlyn,
- 1:32who brings years of experience in design and visual storytelling.
- 1:36And I'll jump in on the conversation as well, because this topic sits right at
- 1:39the heart of the work I love doing. Together, we'll talk about why
- 1:43stories have the power to change how we see people, why quality and
- 1:46creativity matter more than we sometimes realize, and how a new
- 1:50initiative called CareCreatives Company is hoping to help organizations
- 1:54share their work in a way that truly connects with community. Because
- 1:58behind every mission, every organization, and every act
- 2:01of care, there's a story waiting to be told. So
- 2:05let's join Shannon at the table.
- 2:09Good morning, team. Wendy, Johan,
- 2:12Doraleen, I love getting to start every podcast
- 2:16episode because I get to hear these cool stories about people's neighbors
- 2:20So Johan already answered this question way back at the beginning of the season.
- 2:24So Wendy, growing up, who was a neighbor that you'll never forget?
- 2:30Uh, when we lived in the countryside, so we didn't have like physical neighbors next
- 2:34door for the most of my memory, but I think actually one memory
- 2:38that I have was preschool and my mom was in this thing
- 2:41called Nefren, uh, which is like a sewing circle. So
- 2:45the women in the countryside, we were just living outside of, of town.
- 2:49And they would gather together, I think on weekly, and they would sing and
- 2:53do some Bible study, but they would sew together. And I just
- 2:57remember the smell of like cabbage soup and
- 3:00pistachio pudding and these weird things. But I would sit
- 3:04under the chair of my mom and just see them doing community.
- 3:08And that, that's kind of a childhood memory when I think of neighbors.
- 3:11That's beautiful. Cabbage soup and pistachio pudding. That's quite the
- 3:15combo. Sounds weird. Actually, I'm repulsed by pistachio
- 3:19pudding because I overate. This one lady would always bring it and she knew I
- 3:22liked it and I overate. Yeah. So I won't eat it again.
- 3:27Dorlyn, how about for you? Who was a neighbor that you'll never forget?
- 3:31Well, when I think of a neighbor, I mean, growing up out in the country,
- 3:34like Wendy said, we had a gentleman living, an older gentleman
- 3:38living beside us. Uh, Mr. Brown was his name. And
- 3:42he was, I mean, as a child, I, I just saw him
- 3:45as this nice, friendly, older grandpa kind of man and would love to go
- 3:49there and he would give us chips. And things like that, and it was kind
- 3:51of neat. It was only in later years that I realized
- 3:55that this man was actually struggling with addictions and
- 3:58broken marriage and things like that. So I didn't see
- 4:02that as a child. He was always friendly and
- 4:06would have stuff for us or tell us stories or stuff like that. And so
- 4:09I just have really good memories of it. But looking back, I realize now he
- 4:13was a hurting man. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. And
- 4:16for our listeners that don't know, Wendy and Dorlyn are sisters, so
- 4:20they both grew up together on the, on the outside of town. Okay, well,
- 4:24I'm excited to get into this episode today. We're gonna talk
- 4:28a lot about stories and communication and
- 4:31sharing about incredible things that are happening and how we can do that
- 4:35better together. So Wendy, you have
- 4:39spent years helping churches and communities to care for
- 4:43families. What have you noticed about how
- 4:46stories shape the way people respond to needs?
- 4:51Well, when I think of stories, I think of them kind of like
- 4:54welcome mats. And in Canada, when you go to somebody's
- 4:58door, you stop at that mat, take
- 5:01off your shoes before you enter in. And part of that's just good
- 5:05housekeeping. That's just how Canadians roll. But then it's also like
- 5:09a time of transition. You're entering into somebody's space,
- 5:14you're entering into their world, and you share
- 5:17something in common that moment. You share that time in common. And
- 5:21I think stories do that for us. They invite us to step
- 5:25into somebody else's life, and we kind of take
- 5:29off our shoes in humility. There's something sacred about
- 5:32it's their story to share and to just listen and be present.
- 5:36And so When we do that, I think stories change us.
- 5:40It changes, it humanizes people from maybe some black
- 5:44and white thinking to maybe full definition of like,
- 5:47wow, I didn't realize that. And so, and I think Jesus
- 5:51is our best example. He led with stories and he's always connected with
- 5:55people through story. So in what we do with
- 5:58Care Impact, story is central to everything we
- 6:02do. Like, like CarePortal, for example, that is very story-based.
- 6:07And CarePortal's a connecting technology that connects the needs within the
- 6:10community identified through social services and
- 6:14frontline serving agencies, working with community members,
- 6:18particularly the church, but all of community to connect through these stories. And
- 6:22it's not just a put in a need and here's, there's lots of poverty,
- 6:25boy, do we need backpacks. It's not that at all. Like those physical
- 6:29tangible needs are, are met, but it's through
- 6:33story. So we teach a lot with our social workers that
- 6:36are coming on that the importance of
- 6:39storytelling, not to just get just social
- 6:43justice or too concrete,
- 6:48to relate to stories. So for example, I could
- 6:51talk till I'm blue in the face and say, community, we've got a poverty issue
- 6:55and look at these statistics and all across Canada, We are
- 6:59facing increasing addictions and homelessness
- 7:03and all of these things. And on one level, people could
- 7:06empathize, but if I'm opening up my
- 7:10CarePortal app and I notice 10 minutes from my house, I
- 7:14have a notification that there's a refugee widow, let's say
- 7:18from Iraq, and she's got 6 kids and they're trying to settle in Canada
- 7:21and young children and they want to make Canada their
- 7:25home, but they're struggling. And social services has been informed, and
- 7:29they don't want to pull this family apart, but they have noticed they don't have
- 7:32beds, they don't have adequate food, they don't have the right adequate
- 7:36clothing, and the resources that are provided within the system are
- 7:39inadequate, and mom would like community, and
- 7:43mom needs this many beds and a few bunk
- 7:46bed frames. I tell you, when I tell that story,
- 7:50or when I communicate that with a church, it lands different than
- 7:54saying, Guys, we gotta do something about poverty. And same thing with CareLabs,
- 7:58our training. Story is so important. That's why we do
- 8:02the cope poverty experience. They're living in the life
- 8:05of a story, an actual story of somebody in
- 8:09poverty. It's no longer, at the end of that, I guarantee
- 8:13everyone's not gonna say they should do better or I would do this. They will
- 8:16have empathy through that. So yeah, story is a huge piece of
- 8:21all that we do, and it really makes meaningful
- 8:24connections possible. That's right. Yeah, Wendy, thanks for sharing
- 8:28that perspective. And like you said, it humanizes people. We
- 8:32can see ourselves in their story and them in us, whether
- 8:36our stories are the exact same or not. But we're people, people to people.
- 8:40Johann, you have helped produce a lot of the stories on this
- 8:44podcast that people have heard. What is your perspective
- 8:48on the impact that stories have on listeners?
- 8:51One thing I wish I had actually done is keep track of how many times
- 8:55people came up to me and mentioned a story that they heard on the
- 8:59Neighborly Podcast, formerly Journey with Care, and
- 9:02said how much it's actually adjusted the way that they view people
- 9:06and the way that they think. It's amazing that this little
- 9:10podcast can have such an impact even on a few
- 9:14individuals. I think just doing that and hearing
- 9:17that feedback is totally worth it. I know
- 9:21that's where my love of podcasting came from is I listen to podcasts
- 9:25and I find myself viewing others differently because of story
- 9:29and even helping host some of these episodes and hearing all the interviews
- 9:32and editing them and hearing them over and over again because I'm editing, I
- 9:36find I'm viewing people differently myself. So it's
- 9:40really good for me. Like, I love doing the podcast just for my own personal
- 9:43transformation, but like you said, stories
- 9:47humanize people, right? So everything Care Impact
- 9:51does when it comes to compassion, loving our neighbors,
- 9:54doing Care Portal, like Wendy mentioned, once you put a voice to
- 9:58a story or a face to that story, it really has way more
- 10:02impact than just hearing information about an
- 10:05abstract story that happened somewhere else. So I think story
- 10:09is huge. Obviously, as a podcast guy, I have a bias, but yeah.
- 10:13Yeah, that's so good. And you're kind of already really
- 10:17hitting the core of this about how stories can really
- 10:21change the way we see people. So I'm curious,
- 10:25any of you feel free to answer, but for you specifically,
- 10:28how has hearing stories changed how you see people in
- 10:32everyday life? When I encounter people on the daily, I
- 10:36like just hearing some of these neighbor stories, even how we can love our
- 10:40neighbors differently. I used to maybe just walk by them, like
- 10:44the story of the Good Samaritan. I'd be the guy that'd walk by, but now,
- 10:47you know what, I look a little bit longer. There's a story behind that person.
- 10:51I wonder what that is, because I hear so many stories. It really makes me
- 10:54want to go deeper and want to engage them a little bit more, and it
- 10:58just naturally causes me to have compassion on
- 11:01individuals that I encounter. I can point specifically to
- 11:05the start of this podcast when it was Journeying with Care. We did a
- 11:09whole season on reconciliation with the Indigenous peoples and the church.
- 11:13That really flipped the script on a lot of my thinking on how
- 11:17we engage with the Indigenous people and how we can relate to them as
- 11:21the church and really walk alongside them. So that had
- 11:24a huge impact on even my thinking and
- 11:28in how I relate to the Indigenous people that I encounter.
- 11:32Yeah, so good. Wendy, Dorlan, anything you want to add to
- 11:36that? I think story has
- 11:40actually informed my faith. There's
- 11:44been times where I felt disillusioned
- 11:48with religion and theology. I studied it, and
- 11:51I— but you get to a point of, so what? At the end of the
- 11:55day, It's like Jesus loves me and I should love my
- 11:59neighbor. But what about all those extra things
- 12:02and the stuff? And I'm not dismissing theology, but I think what
- 12:06story has done for me and, and just a little bit of context,
- 12:10I'm a story seeker. I did my undergrad overseas and living in
- 12:14countries. And when I was doing my master's, I went to the Middle East and
- 12:17I needed to hear the stories of people rather than just
- 12:21seeing the headlines on the news because I don't know, I'm just curious. And
- 12:25I was looking for my purpose and
- 12:28my meaning in life, not in their stories per se, but they
- 12:32informed me in how the gospel is still
- 12:36so true and how it's being lived out. And stories impacted
- 12:40my perspective and my worldview, and
- 12:43it's actually brought life to my spiritual self
- 12:47because there's something sacred when I, whether they're
- 12:50believers or not, but there's something sacred when you step into their story and
- 12:54you see see the image of Christ in people. You can't see the
- 12:58image of Christ on a headline. You can't see an image of Christ
- 13:02simply by having a good expository
- 13:05theological sermon, but you can
- 13:09see the sacredness in others and the image of Christ when
- 13:13you step into their stories and just see how gracious
- 13:17God is or how he is showing up in the
- 13:21lives of others. And so, I don't think it's just a,
- 13:24we should do storytelling so that we can do good
- 13:28and make an impact in this world. We should, but it's more personal
- 13:32than that. I think stories change
- 13:35us in how we show up with others and be
- 13:39vulnerable. Like, it's not just, we can't just extract other people's
- 13:43stories and say, wow, that felt good. Wow, did I see God there?
- 13:47But now where am I being that vulnerable and letting other people
- 13:51onto my welcome mat and say, come on in? Sometimes it's
- 13:55easy to go listen to all the juice out there and say,
- 13:58wow, this Iraqi woman or this indigenous family coming
- 14:02out of the residential schools, and we can look for those and
- 14:06parade them on our stages. But if we're not gonna be vulnerable with our
- 14:10stories, they challenge me to also welcome people into my
- 14:13mat, the good and the ugly. Like, my house is messy sometimes,
- 14:17but I have to welcome them in anyway through that hospitality. And
- 14:21so sharing my story is just as much part of
- 14:24my growth as listening too, so it's a
- 14:28reciprocal thing. Yeah, that's right. And we've talked
- 14:31a little bit about how stories impact us personally and
- 14:35a little bit of our, in our roles here at Care Impact. So I want
- 14:39to take this a step further. When, for you, Wendy, when
- 14:42we're working with other organizations, what challenges do
- 14:46you see when it comes to communicating the work that they are doing?
- 14:51I think in organizations, and I've been in nonprofit even before
- 14:54founding Care/IMPACT 12, 13 years ago,
- 14:58I was doing community development work and working deep within
- 15:02social justice and community development. We can
- 15:06talk lots in acronyms, we can talk, we can geek out a bit.
- 15:10It works around the table, like across other
- 15:13agencies, but we can We start talking in a
- 15:17way that actually doesn't make community
- 15:20accessible or the things we do accessible to the everyday public.
- 15:24And so, I think we need to
- 15:27carry that heart for community as organizations and for
- 15:31organizations that I work with and just encourage, how do we make it into a
- 15:34grade 5 English so that it's accessible for everybody?
- 15:38That not just those that we serve are the ones that,
- 15:42are recipients of our care, but we also involve the broader community
- 15:47into their story, not just as donors, but that they see
- 15:51themselves in this story. They see themselves into
- 15:54how the programs are running with them in volunteering and
- 15:58just being with and creating good community and connection
- 16:02within community. And so I think we need to create
- 16:06more accessible language so that people in the
- 16:09church and people good people down the street, they can
- 16:13see that organization on that corner more than just a
- 16:17place they go to a gala dinner and give a donation. And good for you,
- 16:20I'm so glad that you're helping people off the street, but
- 16:24they feel like they have a place with that. And
- 16:28I think that's important. So that language is one thing. A lot
- 16:32of times we need to do more education in gentle ways
- 16:36why community needs to be involved and
- 16:39Obviously, you know that I'm a huge proponent of collective
- 16:43impact, meaning like getting the whole community involved.
- 16:47And so, we've got to find those on-ramps so that community
- 16:50and other sectors and other organizations can
- 16:54work with us. There is a scarcity mentality, and so we
- 16:58sometimes want to keep to our own and not share
- 17:01resources or share intel and stuff. And I love the work you're doing,
- 17:05Shannon, here in Winnipeg. You're breaking that. You're bringing agency workers together. You're
- 17:09bringing people into a we mentality instead of us and them.
- 17:13We're wrestling through how do we better engage the community, and
- 17:17I think that's a great example of how to work with organizations,
- 17:21and that's something that Care/Impact is a big fan of.
- 17:25Yeah, exactly. And something I'd add to that too is that
- 17:29I think there's organizations and businesses who
- 17:32want to be communicating what they're doing, but they might just have
- 17:36a limited capacity or they might be
- 17:39focused on the good work that they're doing with people on the ground,
- 17:44but because they're caring for people physically and tangibly, you
- 17:47know, thinking about storytelling and communicating, that just can't be
- 17:51a priority or it isn't a priority. Yeah, I would agree with
- 17:55that. And if you are somebody that wants to
- 17:58get involved in the community, but you feel like, well, I don't know even
- 18:02how, or they're too busy to talk to me or something. I think
- 18:06a neighbor organization that is doing good in your community, get
- 18:09curious and just approach them. Go to their public function.
- 18:13Sometimes they have it. Don't wait for an invitation, but find ways to get
- 18:17curious about how, not coming with an agenda of how you are going to serve
- 18:21their needs, but get curious, listen and ask, where
- 18:24is it that you're finding the most challenges? Or what are the opportunities
- 18:28that you would love community to do? And that's, Simply how
- 18:32we got involved in Winnipeg, I just kept asking organizations across the
- 18:36city. So many people here across Winnipeg are doing great things,
- 18:40but when I ask, what is going above and beyond your work that you would
- 18:43love if you had trained community, if you had people wanting to
- 18:47care and you just needed access, what are the things that you would love for
- 18:50them to do? And that's why CarePortal identifies those things, makes it
- 18:54very practical and accessible. But, In the
- 18:57meantime, just get curious and ask how you can get involved with organizations
- 19:01and get involved with CarePortal.
- 19:06Yeah, so good. And so I think we're, you know, we're talking about some people
- 19:09who might want to be getting involved. And I think there are lots
- 19:13of skill sets and gifts out there
- 19:16that people maybe don't realize can really make an impact.
- 19:20So, Dorlan, I'm going to kind of turn things to you. Because
- 19:24often the first thing that someone encounters isn't a story,
- 19:28but it's actually something visual, either a website or a logo or
- 19:31a printed material. Can you share, you know, you have so much
- 19:35experience in design and graphics and all these different things. Why
- 19:39does that matter for organizations or just
- 19:42businesses in the community? Well, the visual
- 19:46is generally the front door. Often people
- 19:50will, will look at your website or see something
- 19:53visual and that's how they'll hear about you. And that's where they'll form their
- 19:57impression before they ever hear your story. That's where they'll
- 20:01decide whether they want to hear more of your story, whether they want to hear
- 20:04more of what you do. It's a front door, basically.
- 20:08If you have a good presence, let's say with your website,
- 20:12you have a good presence, people do judge you for that. Whether we like it
- 20:15or not, but we do judge based on what we see,
- 20:19based on visuals often. And so it's important for organizations. They
- 20:23may— organizations, businesses, they may do it, be doing
- 20:26amazing work. They may be selling an amazing product or
- 20:30service, but if we don't have that
- 20:34story, that visual story, you won't be seen.
- 20:38People won't, won't hear about your good work or how they can get involved with
- 20:42your organization. Yeah, totally. And
- 20:45Johan, as someone who's been in the podcast space for a
- 20:49long time, where does storytelling fit alongside things like
- 20:53branding or websites? It's been proven
- 20:56actually that brands that have a story and tell their story
- 21:00do a lot better than ones that don't. So
- 21:04like I have a side business where I do podcasting and obviously I do that
- 21:07with care. Impact, and we'll talk about how we're
- 21:11adding a service that we can do it for other businesses as well.
- 21:15But I've worked with small businesses and a few
- 21:19larger ones, and it's not only important for them to tell
- 21:23their stories through a podcast because podcast
- 21:26has very intimate listeners. Like, they have much
- 21:30better rates than even YouTube going on video.
- 21:33Listeners tend to stick on a lot longer, and they It's
- 21:37actually more intimate because it's right in your ear. It's usually when
- 21:41you're doing something like a chore or something, so you're less
- 21:44distracted by other visuals. It's one thing to
- 21:48just tell your story on a podcast, but to do it with quality is really
- 21:51important because there's so much competition out there because everybody's telling
- 21:55their stories. Technology is getting better and easier to
- 21:59sound better and look better. So the ones that
- 22:02are sticking out are the ones that actually sound really good, which is why I
- 22:06make it like my mission to make us sound the best we can, to
- 22:10put out the stories the best we can. Because if people want
- 22:14to get vulnerable and tell their stories, we want to do it justice as well.
- 22:17We want to make sure that it sounds good, comes out clear so that the
- 22:21message is clear. I actually just yesterday
- 22:25dropped a podcast. They have good content, but I
- 22:29just couldn't handle the sound and not a judgment
- 22:32on their content or the person behind the voice.
- 22:36The voice behind the podcast, but my ears couldn't
- 22:40handle it. It was, it was like static in my ears. And, and
- 22:44actually statistics show if you don't have good sound, you're gonna defeat the message. It's
- 22:48like Doraleen, if you don't have good visuals, people will judge you and, and not
- 22:51look further into the good work you do. So sound actually matters
- 22:55and you're, you're gonna drop people if you don't do it well. Um, and
- 22:58Johan, you've given me an appreciation for that, but my ears know
- 23:02good sound. Yeah, such a good point, you guys, that
- 23:06the quality and the audio and what we're hearing and we're seeing really
- 23:09matters. And Johan, you already hinted at this.
- 23:13Wendy, can you share about how the lead-up process into
- 23:16noticing that there's organizations out there in Canada doing
- 23:20meaningful work but are lacking in that creative
- 23:23infrastructure? And tell us a little bit how that birthed CareCreatives
- 23:27Company. Ooh, yeah. Well, and it actually birthed Care
- 23:31Impact itself. I loved the work I was doing before Care
- 23:35Impact, but what got me to quit my job and travel
- 23:38across this country looking for what is happening across our
- 23:42country, across our cities, where are networks forming, is because we
- 23:46need to do things better together. There's a lot of siloed activities and
- 23:50there's a lot of good things happening, but in disjointed
- 23:54activity. It's actually very inefficient and we
- 23:58can actually create systemic change and go upstream
- 24:01and reverse the poverty cycles and, and
- 24:05things. We can do these one-off things. So tell us, how did
- 24:09this birth CareCreatives? How did CareCreatives company take shape?
- 24:13So we've developed infrastructure for Canada. We're still
- 24:17at an early stage, beta stage. It's ready to expand now.
- 24:21For care portal technology, for connecting technology,
- 24:25just like Uber. We're ready to grow. And CareLabs,
- 24:29we have a way to bring meaningful training across this country
- 24:33so that these organizations that are often working in
- 24:37isolation can get connected, can get the information so
- 24:40that churches can get equipped for good works together.
- 24:45Not just talk about working together, but this is how good
- 24:49working together looks like and how we can do it in
- 24:52practicality. So while podcasting has
- 24:56been an effective means for us to connect with Canada,
- 25:00we want to showcase beautiful things that other
- 25:03organizations are doing, and not just philanthropy
- 25:07or ministries. Those are important, and we want to
- 25:10serve you in good podcasting. It does make a difference,
- 25:14but also in the marketplace.. There's marketplace leaders
- 25:18that want to do social good. They have stories to share. It's
- 25:22not just like rising up in capitalism and trying to get rich.
- 25:25They have kingdom mindsets, and we want your stories heard as
- 25:30well. And, and visually as well, we want your websites to look good
- 25:33so that we can help connect you into
- 25:37the broader community. We want visually to have
- 25:41good business cards and because business cards make connections
- 25:44and those little things matter. And so the CareCreatives company
- 25:48really is a social enterprise so we can compete with the best of them. I,
- 25:51I will testify cuz Johan and Dorlan will be too humble, but they have over
- 25:5430 years of professional experience in audio and visual
- 25:58and websites and, and things like that. They have been doing it in the marketplace
- 26:02and now we are creating this company so that people can
- 26:06get the same services that you would get in a
- 26:09for-profit But all of the proceeds, all of the what is being paid
- 26:13for professional services actually goes back into the community. So
- 26:17by getting your stories out there, by getting your needs met, you're paying for it
- 26:21anyway through for-profit companies. We can do it, but get
- 26:25your stories told. And while you're doing it, support
- 26:29more community connections in the other things we're doing with CarePortal
- 26:32and the Care Lab. So it's kind of a win-win. It's not
- 26:36just for the social enterprise money. We want
- 26:40marketplace and ministry leaders, people in
- 26:44government to be able to be good storytellers because stories
- 26:48connect, stories humanize you, and we wanna know who you
- 26:52are beyond your logo, but we can build your logo
- 26:56too. Yeah. So good. Johan and Dorlan, I'd love to
- 27:00hear, as, as you are gonna be two people really leading this company,
- 27:04this aspect of Care Impact, what excites you most about
- 27:07getting to help people share their work more clearly, whether that's
- 27:11through audio production or whether that's through print
- 27:14products or website design? Tell us what excites
- 27:19you. From my experience, like I've been in, in business, in,
- 27:23in marketing, design, website, that kind of stuff for quite a
- 27:27while. What excites me is seeing the
- 27:31confidence that a good brand, a good logo,
- 27:34a good website gives people. And it's so
- 27:39often, you just see their eyes light up and they're proud to
- 27:43show what they do. It just brings them a confidence,
- 27:47a credibility that people see out from the outside when they look at
- 27:50their website, when they look at your branding. And branding isn't just a logo.
- 27:54It's How do I feel when I see
- 27:58your workplace? Or how do I feel when I go to your website
- 28:02or when I talk to you on the phone? That's all
- 28:05brand, the feel. And if we can help you build that, it just
- 28:09brings out a confidence in the owner, in the workers,
- 28:13and it's a beautiful thing to see. That's always been a highlight for me, to
- 28:16bring confidence to people. That's beautiful. How about for you,
- 28:21Johan? I love giving businesses a platform to actually be thought leaders
- 28:25in their field. And that happens so often when businesses start a
- 28:28podcast. In fact, I've lost some clients because they've grown out of the podcast
- 28:32and ended up doing like TED Talks and TV shows
- 28:37instead because the podcast has helped their business grow. It's not
- 28:40always good for me, but it's good for them. But it excites me
- 28:44that there are so many good stories and organizations doing good things,
- 28:48but there's no way of people knowing what they're doing
- 28:52unless they're telling the stories. And the thing is, like, with podcasting
- 28:56now, these things are starting to be able to get searched through Google
- 28:59searches and stuff because we're adding transcripts to all the
- 29:03platforms now. So when you search something, Google's going to find the answer through
- 29:07that transcript on the podcast. So it's becoming even more important
- 29:11than ever before because when people go to a website now, there's so
- 29:14many podcasts out there, people expect to see a podcast on
- 29:18your website. Like it's, it's almost something every business needs to
- 29:22have nowadays to stand out from the other businesses around them and be
- 29:25thought leaders in their areas. So it excites me to see businesses
- 29:29grow and do well and new stories, especially local ones,
- 29:33Canadian stories get told. Yeah,
- 29:37absolutely. And there's just, there's so much out there. Like you said,
- 29:40there's so many incredible
- 29:44organizations, businesses, I think of small family-owned
- 29:48businesses that have a heart for community or just have a heart to
- 29:51provide a quality craft or service.
- 29:55And those things need to be shared. And I think there's so much
- 29:59learning, like we've talked about, shared learning and opening up of
- 30:02our perspectives when we get to see those
- 30:06stories amplified. And when we do good audio, when we do
- 30:10good visual, when we do good storytelling through all
- 30:13our senses, That is a way of spreading Good News
- 30:17that we often underestimate. They may not be open
- 30:21to hearing the Gospel and what your core convictions, as
- 30:24important as that is, but they will be drawn
- 30:28in by the hope that you have and the stories that you share that are
- 30:32hope-filled. We have enough headlines out there that ground us
- 30:36with reality of war and desperation
- 30:41and people in disunity, we need good
- 30:44stories. That's the antidote to a lot of the bad out there is to
- 30:48actually produce more good stories and to do it with excellence.
- 30:52And we can do that through CARE Creatives
- 30:56Company is help you tell good stories and be good in your
- 31:03community. The stories we share here remind us that care does not have to be
- 31:06perfect to be powerful. It just has to be present. Neighborly
- 31:10is an initiative of Care Impact, a Canadian charity equipping
- 31:14churches, agencies, and communities with technology and training to care
- 31:18better together. This episode was produced by CareCreatives
- 31:21Co., a social enterprise of Care Impact. If you're building a podcast and want
- 31:25help with strategy, editing, or full production,
- 31:28visit carecreativesco.ca to connect with
- 31:32us. I'm Johan. Thanks for listening, and keep being the kind of
- 31:36neighbor someone will never forget— in a good
- 31:55way. Being a stranger, I'm
- 31:59no longer a stranger.
- 32:03Turning over tables, tearing
- 32:06down walls, building up the
- 32:11bridges between the souls of
- 32:14this journey.