## ANNUAL REPORT ## 20 23 “We help local people in crisis to feel accepted, cared for and valued by providing food and support with utility top ups so that we can show them the love of Jesus” The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 www.theeasterteam.org 1 ## Chair of Trustees’ Report Welcome from the Chair of Trustees - Sharon Golightly Annual Report for the year ending December 2023. On behalf of the board of trustees, welcome to our Annual Report for 2023. You will see as you read through that we have again been blessed with amazing support both financial and in food items from so many sources. We give thanks for this as it has ensured we have been able to sustain our work again this year. The team have worked incredibly hard to cope with the high levels of demand for our services, which we acknowledge can be difficult at times, given that so many people are in desperate need of our help. All our volunteers do an amazing job and between them, they contribute in the region of 150 hours per week, week in week out, we are incredibly grateful and could not do what we do without them! We also value our working partnerships with Crawley Open House (as the Crawley Foodbank Partnership), Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and Love Your Neighbour. During the year we were able to recruit a part time Volunteer Coordinator and we welcomed Dave Orpin to the team. He has been instrumental in recruiting new volunteers and ensuring all our activities are staffed. It’s worth noting that although we now have 2 paid staff members, both are part time and together add up to less than one full time equivalent post! So we very much remain a voluntary organisation, even the trustees are volunteers. It has been heart-warming to know just how many volunteers are working with us week in and week out to serve people in Crawley in need of food. I thank God for each and every one. As trustees, we have been ever aware of our responsibility to manage our resources responsibly and to take strategic decisions to ensure we remain able to support clients in the best way we can. Thus we’ve been able to continue to meet the increasing numbers of Crawley people approaching us in need. As ever, our grateful thanks are due to our generous landlords at both our warehouse space and our hub at County Mall. I don’t know what we’d do without the blessing of both these spaces which enable us to support our clients. Blessings Sharon The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 2 www.theeasterteam.org ## OPERATIONAL REPORT Su Parrish - Operations Manager I’m writing this report with very mixed feelings – on one hand I’m SO proud of the support the Easter Team has been able to offer our ever increasing number of clients and on the other hand, it saddens me to know just how many people are finding they need the support of a foodbank. The cost of living crisis has triggered a huge increase in requests for support with basic food and small utility top ups and each of these requests represents a household in food or fuel poverty. A rising proportion of our clients now are in work, but possibly on a low income and no matter how hard or how many hours they work, there just isn’t enough money to pay everything. Many of these clients are skilled at budgeting and once they’ve prioritised housing costs and essential bills, there just isn’t enough money left for enough food. Which is where we can step in to help with crisis food. It often seems that what we offer is a very small thing, but is significant to each client and they tell us that their food parcels and small utility top ups are a lifeline. We have only been able to meet the ever growing requests for support due to the committed work of our volunteer team and the food and financial donations we’ve received. We thank and recognise you all. During 2023, I have been interviewed for local and national press and even quoted in Parliament, speaking up for the people serve. I’m reminded of the Bible verse in Proverbs : “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” 2023 2023 6212 parcels 1285 households served ( 81.925 tonnes) 3150 individuals served 167,988 meals 2022 2022 1264 households served 4947 parcels 2652 individuals served (64.293 tonnes) 129,820 meals **----- Start of picture text -----**
2021 2021
861 Households 4658 food parcels
served (34.577 tonnes)
3 www.theeasterteam.org
**----- End of picture text -----**
The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 The Easter Team buys much appreciated gas and electricity pre-payment meter top ups to help people in crisis with their utility costs. During 2023 we helped clients in this way on 1743 occasions (up from 1223 in the previous year). From January to August 2023 each top up was normally £30. From September to December each top up was normally £20. Since January 2024 each top up has normally been £30. During 2023 we bought 62% of the top ups online or on the phone and the rest were bought by volunteers taking the clients’ top up cards into a shop. **----- Start of picture text -----**
Number of occasions support given
with utility costs
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2021 2022 2023
Year
**----- End of picture text -----**
Christmas 2023 was a huge event, both in terms of the numbers of households we were able to support and the amount of festive food and treats we were able to give each one. I had anticipated another big increase in requests, but it was even bigger than I foresaw. Over the week before Christmas, we gave out 439 Christmas parcels in total – an increase of about a third on the previous year (306). Our fantastic team of volunteers worked so hard that week to ensure everyone was able to take away plenty of food and goodies. It was especially good to have the support of volunteers from our partners at Love Your Neighbour, who joined forces with us to serve clients all week. **----- Start of picture text -----**
439
Christmas food
parcels
plus gifts and treats
in 2023
**----- End of picture text -----**
The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 www.theeasterteam.org 4 Again this year, we have received so much support from local people, churches, schools and other organisations. Every tin, packet of pasta or box of cereal donated has been valued and used to pack our food parcels. We particularly thank: West Green School St Pauls Northgate 2[nd] Ifield Scout Group St Andrews School St Andrews Church Balcombe Village Stores Milton Mount School St Marys Church Friends of BPAS Maidenbower Infants School St Johns Church Wates Handcross Park Pre Prep School Crawley Baptist Church Little Holly Hedgehog The Brook School Christ the Lord Broadfield Anise Catering Ifield Community College St Margarets Church and parish Greener Greens Thomas Bennett Community College Holy Trinity Tilgate Crawley Labour Women CBC Parents and Toddlers Group St Peters Church 2[nd] Crawley Guides Caridon Group The Vine Chris Sexton Tesco – Lydia Inns Matmos Hinal Patel Cook Horsham Constable Collectors Mad Dog Coffee D’Nata Marks and Spencer Tesco Fulfilment Centre RPD Foundation Customers of Pet at Home, Tesco and Sainsburys in store donation stations Infigo Haywards Heath Foodbank Ready Steady Grow Pre School Copthorne Kinders Day Nursery Willow Tree Preschool A van full of donations collected from West Green School The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 www.theeasterteam.org 5 The Easter Team has been blessed to have some significant long term supporters and the three below just illustrate some of the ways it can be done: ## Caroline: Constable Collectors. “…I resolved to do something meaningful with my life and to donate food myself every month. It was suggested to me that I might like to join with another neighbour. Having pondered this, I decided I might be able to do more than this. I came up with the idea of asking people in Constable Road if they would commit to giving one item of food every week.” Caroline’s neighbours have donated over 20,000 mostly food items since she began coordinating them in May 2019. Caroline and Kit collect from each house weekly and our volunteer Paul collects them each month. Pictured is Jim who is both a donor and a volunteer with just one of the monthly donations – each one of which fill a car. Many of the Constable Collectors have not missed donating for even one week and we so appreciate this community support ## Cook Horsham: The team at Cook have donated at least 30 frozen meals a week every week for several years collected by our volunteer Peter. Over the years they’ve been donating the cost of the meal has increased significantly, but Cook Horsham continue to provide us with the same number free of charge. They are a real treat for our clients and we are incredibly grateful for this generous gesture of a delicious, nutritious meal. ## Chris S: Chris sent a monthly supermarket delivery as a donation all during 2023. He aways asks what’s most needed and then has it delivered directly to our warehouse, which is incredibly helpful. Thank you Chris! The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 www.theeasterteam.org 6 ## Some of our clients said……. “Thank you to the lovely volunteer who came out in the rain yesterday and helped me with everything I needed.” “Thank you so much for an amazing food parcel today. I am so very grateful” “Meeting all these kind people today has lifted .” the spirit a little “Your care and generosity will stay with me forever.” The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 www.theeasterteam.org 7 ## VOLUNTEER COORDINATION REPORT ## Volunteer Coordinator - Dave Orpin I joined the team in May working 1 day a week. I started off by seeing what happened at the hub and the warehouse and also working different days each week to get to meet all the volunteers. I was given the task of up dating the volunteer records and transferring all the documents into digital copies. I also took over the recruitment process from receipt of enquiries, sending out application forms, completing references and the Hub volunteers inductions. The Volunteer monthly schedules are also now my responsibility, to complete them and try to fill any gaps and also to find cover for short notice holidays etc. I am always amazed at all the hours, time and commitment our volunteers give to ensure the work of the Easter Team thrives. Volunteer Loes taking calls on our parcel request line Volunteer Isabelle with the food parcels ready to give out The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 www.theeasterteam.org 8 ## FINANCIAL REPORT ## Treasurer’s Report - John Lodemore Trustees’ Annual Report for the year from 1 January to 31 December 2023 Financial Review During 2023 the Easter Team had income of £109,464 (up from £72,096 the previous year). God has been amazing in the way he has blessed us with incoming resources and thereby enabled us to do so much for families and individuals in crisis. During 2023 the main income was grants of £52,266, donations of £37,918 (mostly from individuals and churches), gift aid of £7,895 and contributions of £10,420 from Crawley Open House and Love Your Neighbour towards our shared costs. During 2023 the Easter Team received donations and grants from: - Numerous generous individuals - Balcombe Gardeners’ Association - Crawley Baptist Church - Crawley Borough Council (grants of £22,500) - Crawley Gluten Free Group - Crawley Social Fellowship - Dnata UK Catering Ltd staff - East Grinstead Justice & Peace Group - Elim Church, Bewbush - Gatwick Seventh-Day Adventist Church - Ifield Quaker Meeting - Kingdom Faith Church, Crawley - Legal & General Group PLC - The Longley Trust - Love Your Neighbour (grant of £6,000) - The Neighbourly Foundation (from Sainsbury’s) - PayPal Giving Fund - RPD Foundation (grants of £10,466 including £6667 from West Sussex County Council) - St Andrew’s Church, Furnace Green - St Margaret’s Church, Ifield - St Mary’s Church, Southgate - Sussex Community Foundation (grant of £6,000 from Cubitt & West) - Toyota - The Vine Fellowship - Virgin Unite (grant of £5,000) - Gifts in memory of Marilyn Lake Our sincere thanks to all the individuals and organisations who supported us financially during 2023. The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 www.theeasterteam.org 9 During 2023 the Easter Team spent £128,421 (up from £65,145 the previous year). The spending consisted of £47,346 on gas and electricity meter top ups, £45,359 on food (to supplement the food donated to us), £23,881 on the employment of our staff and £11,835 on our other running costs. At the end of 2023 the Easter Team held a total of £62,120 (down from £81,077 at the end of the previous year). The amount held at the end of 2023 included £31,828 in restricted funds. Summary of Accounts for the year ending 31 December 2023 |**INCOME (£)**
Grants
Donations from individuals and churches
etc
Gift aid
Contributions to shared costs
Interest
Transfer from old Easter Team charity
**EXPENDITURE (£)**
Gas and electricity top-ups
Food for food parcels
Employment of staff
Equipment
Van, mileage and fares
Hire of shipping container at Hub
Electricty for Hub
Consumables
Premises
Pest control
Insurance
Phone calls and text messages
Broadband at Hub
Accountant
Other expenditure
Net Expenditure / Income
**BALANCES AT THE END OF THE**
**YEAR (£)**
Deposit accounts
Current accounts
Petty cash|52,266
37,918
7,895
10,420
965
0|**2023**
£109,464
£128,421
-£18,957
**2023**
54,176
7,844
100
£62,120|25,112
41,511
3,660
624
377
812|**2022**
£72,096
£65,145| |---|---|---|---|---| ||47,346
45,359
23,881
2,679
1,650
1,301
950
867
745
705
656
603
534
390
755||25,845
15,381
16,249
955
759
0
193
860
2,051
551
650
561
390
300
400|| |||||| |||||£6,951| |||||**2022**
64,211
16,806
60| |||||£81,077| The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 www.theeasterteam.org 10 ## Governance The Easter Team is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. The constitution is dated 7[th] April 2021. The trustees are appointed or re-elected for terms of 3 or 4 years by the trustees. The trustees of the Easter Team are Sharon Golightly (Chair), Rohan Andrew, Rosemary Benwell (Vice-chair & Secretary), Paul Davies and John Lodemore (Treasurer). They all served for the whole of 2023. In addition Rev Stephen Burston served as a trustee until 15[th] June 2023. The Easter Team employs a part time Operations Manager (Su Parrish) and since May 2023 has also employed a part time Volunteer Co-Ordinator (Dave Orpin). The Easter Team did not have any other employees during 2023. None of the Easter Team’s trustees or volunteers receives any remuneration or other benefit. During 2023 the Easter Team continued to work closely with Love Your Neighbour, Crawley Open House, Christians Against Poverty, Youth With A Mission and local churches in those areas where our interests overlap. ## Contact Details Website: www.theeasterteam.org Email address: office@theeasterteam.org Phone number: 07940 900948 Postal address: c/o Crawley Baptist Church, Crabtree Road, Crawley, RH11 7HJ Hub location: Next to County Mall, behind the Metrobus office Hub opening hours: Monday to Friday, 10am to 2pm The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2023 11 www.theeasterteam.org ||**Charity Name**

**The Easter Team**
|**Charity Name**

**The Easter Team**
|**Charity Name**

**The Easter Team**
|**No (if any)**
**1194018**| |---|---|---|---|---| ||**For the period**
**from**|Period start date
1-Jan-23|**To**|Period end date
31-Dec-23| |**Section A Receipts and payments**||||| |---|---|---|---|---| |**A1 Receipts**
Grants
**20,016**
Donations
**37,584**
Gift Aid
**7,895**
Contributions to shared costs
**10,420**
Interest
**965**
Transfer from old Easter Team charity
**-**
**-**
**-**
**76,880**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total receipts_ 76,880**
**A3 Payments**
Charitable spending: Gas & elec topups
**47,346**
Charitable spending: Foodparcels
**34,645**
Runningcosts: Employment of staff
**23,881**
Runningcosts: Other
**6,622**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ 112,494**
**-**
**-**
**_Sub total_ -**
**_Total payments_ 112,494**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_ - 35,614**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**-**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**65,906**
**_Cash funds this year end_ 30,292**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_
**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**
**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|**to the nearest £**
**32,250**
**334**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**32,584**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**32,584**
**-**
**10,714**
**-**
**5,213**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**15,927**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**15,927**
**16,657**
**-**
**15,171**
**31,828**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**to the nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**52,266**
**37,918**
**7,895**
**10,420**
**965**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**109,464**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**109,464**
**47,346**
**45,359**
**23,881**
**11,835**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**128,421**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**128,421**
**- 18,957**
**-**
**81,077**
**62,120**|**Last year**
**to the nearest £**| |||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**52,266**|**25,112**| ||||**37,918**|**41,511**| ||||**7,895**|**3,660**| ||||**10,420**|**624**| ||||**965**|**377**| ||||**-**|**812**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**109,464**|**72,096**| |||||| |||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**|| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| |||||| |||**-**|**109,464**|**72,096**| |||||| |||**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**47,346**|**25,845**| ||||**45,359**|**15,381**| ||||**23,881**|**16,249**| ||||**11,835**|**7,670**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**-**|**-**| ||||**128,421**|**65,145**| |||||| |||**-**
**-**
**-**|**-**|| ||||**-**|| ||||**-**|**-**| |||||| |||**-**|**128,421**|**65,145**| |||||| ||**16,657**|**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**- 18,957**|**6,951**| ||**-**||**-**|**-**| ||**15,171**||**81,077**|**74,126**| ||**31,828**||**62,120**|**81,077**| ## **Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** |**Categories**
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B3 Investment assets**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees|**Details**
Deposit accounts
Current accounts
Petty cash
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Signature
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))|**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**22,348**
**31,828**
**7,844**
**-**
**100**
**-**
**30,292**
**31,828**
OK
OK
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
John Lodemore
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**|**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**| |---|---|---|---| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||OK| ||||**to nearest £**
**Endowment**
**funds**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**Current value**
**(optional)**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**-**| ||||**When due**
**(optional)**| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||| ||||Date of
approval| |||John Lodemore|2-Apr-24| ||||| CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of The Easter Team On accounts for the year endod 31.12.2023 Charity no Irf any) 1194018 Set out on pages 1- 2 of the Receipts & Payments Accounts I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above chartyllhe Trusf) for the year ended 3111212023. Re8ponslbllltlos and As the charFty trustees of the Trust, you are r8sponsibl8 for the preparation ba•1* of roport of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Acri. I report in respect of my examlnation of the Trust's ￿CoUnts caryled out under seCI￿n 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examlnation. I have fOll￿Ved the appluble Dlrections gNen by Ihe Charty Commission under Sectlon 14951{bl of the A(1. I have completed my examination. I confim that no material matters have come lo my attention (other than dr8closed below) in conneclion with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material r6spect: accounling record8 were not kept in acoydance with $￿tIon 130 of the Act or the accounts do ncrt accord wilh Ihe a¢￿UntIng r￿rdS Independent oxaminerf8 Statomont I have no concern8 and have ccvne acmss no other matter8 in connection with the exaMinat￿n to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a prO￿r understanding of the O￿nts to ￿ reached. s￿ned. 911012024 Nam•: A￿n WKJ10y FCA Rolovant profes8lon•l quallficatlonls) or body Ilf any): Chartered Accountant I IG4EW Addre88: Soteria Accountancy Ground Floor, 8 Magellan Terrace Gatwick Road Cr&vley RH10 9PJ IER October 2018 Section B Disc105ure Only cornp￿te ifthe examiner needs to highlight matters of concem {see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. direction5 and guhJan¢e fc examiners). Glv• h•re brief dotalls of any items that tho oxaminer wi$he8 to di$¢losg. If nothing to disclos8, plea￿ entsr NA below IER October 2018