Charity Banner Designed by Public Service Student Makes BIG Impact

In the lead-up to Threshold's Big Swindon SleepOut event, one New College student has chosen to raise awareness of the event and Threshold itself by making a banner promoting both.

17 year-old Megan Taylor is studying Public Services at New College Swindon, and has hopes of joining the Police Service. She said “I came to know about Threshold Housing Link, Swindon’s Homeless Charity, during my National Citizenship Service social impact programme over the summer. Michael came to present to us at NCS and we all really wanted to help raise awareness of the great work this fantastic local charity does, as well as promote participation at Threshold’s BIG SWINDON SleepOut next month”.

“We chose Threshold because our team was moved by the presentation made to us and we were really passionate about wanting to help Threshold help the homeless in our town. During our social impact work with NCS we did some fundraising and created posters and flyers to raise awareness of what Threshold do. I designed the event graphic for this year’s BIG SWINDON SleepOut. It was really fun and I enjoyed working with Michael and my NCS team in promoting Threshold’s big community event”.

“I have never done anything like this before and I learned quite a lot about the creative process. We were asked to design a promotional event poster. I had a few ideas of my own and developed them with Michael and we then shaped them together, developing and refining certain elements”.

Michael Keenan, Threshold’s Chief Development Officer, added, “Megan has done brilliantly, it was an absolute pleasure and a delight to work alongside her and all the NCS students. One of the reasons that so many students seek to promote the work of Threshold each year is not only their love of social action and the mission of Threshold to help the homeless, but also as we strive to provide learning opportunities for them through their volunteering. Our hope is that these young people will continue to be inspired to act throughout their lives for the betterment of their community. We’re also really grateful to our partners the Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service who support us each year through displaying the huge community event banner on the side of the Swindon Fire Station building”.

Megan also said, “It was fantastic seeing the big banner actually up. I was speechless when I first saw it. It was a big moment for me seeing it actually up on the side of the Fire Station here at the magic roundabout. It looks so cool and it’s bigger than I imagined. I’m really happy about how it looks and what I’ve done. NCS social action and working with Threshold was really amazing”.

Michael finished by saying, “Megan’s design was transferred to the official event poster which features on our website and to pull-up banners that will feature in supermarkets across Swindon in the coming weeks leading up to the event”.

Threshold’s Big Swindon SleepOut will be taking place at Supermarine Sports and Social Club on Friday 3rd December from 8:00pm.

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