What’s Ahead:
In the months ahead, we intend to continue expanding our workshop opportunities. If you have an idea of using pottery workshops in your workplace or other context (e.g. a school setting), then please let me know. As well, stay tuned for information about our Christmas workshops where you can make Christmas decorations for yourself or as gifts for family and friends. See our website for details.

Thanks so much for your partnership in our efforts at JustWork! Your financial gifts make all of this possible. We are grateful for the support you provide as a donor to JustWork. Without you, none of this creative and meaningful work would be possible!

With gratitude,

David Holcomb
Executive Director, JustWork Economic Initiative

Thanks for taking a few minutes to read through our new blog. My hope is to provide donors with several of these updates throughout 2015, aiming to give you snapshots of life at JustWork. Thanks for how you have given!

As a donor to JustWork, you know about our mission of employment. But, how much do you know about our social enterprises – the tools we use for offering employment?  Let me introduce you more fully to one of these tools: JustCatering. In particular, if you need corporate catering, then we would love to speak with you!




What We Do:
JustCatering’s work generally falls into three categories:

• Corporate Catering: we cater breakfasts and lunches for business meetings as well as multi-day conferences. Some of these are for occasional customers and others are for customers whom we serve multiple times per month.
  
• Weddings and Other Significant Events: event catering requires much detailed planning and then a lot of hard work in a short period of time. However, our team gets an awesome feeling from a job well done, and we build great team camaraderie in the process.
  
• Daily Meal Service: for the past two years we have provided dinner 365 days per year for 15-20 residents at a Vancouver senior’s facility.  Our employees benefit from having regular shifts each week in this context. As well, we appreciate the opportunity to develop close relationships with those with whom we interact so regularly.
  

What Customers Say:

What do our customers think of the food and service we provide?  On our customer feedback forms, we consistently get ratings of 9 and 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. Here is a sampling of comments from the past few months:

Each and every Friday we receive huge compliments about the Lasagna… WOW! I just recently sent Mary an email to let her know how great she and her team are doing. - Ilene at Vancity

The service on the actual day was amazing. The food was great. They made everything exactly to our liking, and made sure to follow our timeline.    - Laura, Wedding Customer

 The food was delicious, and everyone I interacted with at JustCatering was phenomenal and friendly. - Stephanie at UBC
 
I wanted to let you know how much we appreciated all of the work that you and your team did to make the meal an absolute hit. Everyone I heard from was raving about how the food was the best food they'd ever eaten at a wedding. - Jayme, Wedding Customer

We are very proud of responses like these – excellent food and great service!  Our employees are proud to make a contribution to an enterprise that is so well-respected. I am always happy to have one of the catering employees stop by my office because, invariably, they have good things to say about the work they are doing!

As JustCatering continues to develop a solid reputation, in addition to the positive impact on our employees, there is also a ripple effect outside of JustCatering. This positive reputation rubs off on our two other enterprises as well as other social enterprises in the city. In this way, we are glad to contribute to a strong social enterprise sector so that the mission of employment can continue to grow both within JustWork and in other organisations.

What Is Ahead:

In 2015, we aim to expand our corporate catering work. We want to develop a broader base of regular customers who will use our services on a regular basis, thereby providing more consistent work for our employees. As we expand our work, you can help! If your workplace occasionally or regularly uses catering services, then please recommend JustCatering. We would love to be of service to you and your organisation. We are confident you will be pleased to be a customer of JustCatering and a supporter of our mission of employment.  Definitely a win-win!

With gratitude,

David Holcomb
Executive Director
JustWork Economic Initiative