OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2024-12-31-accounts

ANNUAL REPORT

20 24

Harvest Donation

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024

www.theeasterteam.org

1

Chair of Trustees’ Report

Sharon Golightly: Chair of Trustees

Welcome to the Easter Team’s Annual Report for the year ending 31[st] December 2024.

At the risk of repeating myself from previous annual reports, you will see again that God has blessed the Easter Team’s work with generous donations of food, money, time, expertise and commitment. We give thanks for the ability to continue to serve the people of Crawley in need of food, support and hope.

The cost-of-living crisis has continued to bite, and during this year we have seen an increase in the number of working people needing to use our food bank which is a sad situation for anyone to be in.

We are proud that people can still turn to us for support without a referral from any official agency and that requests for help are met with compassion, no judgement and a desire to serve from our fantastic volunteer team.

We have continued to work in partnership with our colleagues at Christians Against Poverty, Crawley Open House and Love Your Neighbour.

Our staff team remains small and part time, still less than one full time equivalent, but the day-to-day work is supported by our dedicated team of volunteers without whom we literally could not operate. We are truly blessed to have a team who give their time, commitment, skills and love for their fellow humans with so much dedication.

We continue to be grateful for the generosity of our landlords on both our sites – having the spaces on such generous terms ensures we can focus our finances on serving our clients.

Thank you for taking the time to read the report on our operations during 2024 – if you would like to make contact, our details are on the final page.

God bless you

Sharon

Chair of Trustees

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024

www.theeasterteam.org

2

FINANCIAL REPORT

Treasurer’s Report - John Lodemore

We are extremely grateful to all the individuals and organisations who supported the Easter Team financially and in other ways during 2024. We could not operate without the large number of kind individuals, churches, schools and other organisations who generously give large amounts of food, many hours of their time, money and other valuable resources.

We would like to thank:

During 2024 the Easter Team had income of £173,767 (up from £109,464 the previous year). The main income was grants of £124,640, donations of £39,647 (mostly from individuals and churches) and gift aid of £6,487. 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 2024 the Easter Team spent £133,691 (up from £128,421 the previous year). The spending consisted of £57,617 on food (to supplement the food donated to us), £2,000 on food vouchers, £36,103 on gas and electricity meter top ups, £26,498 on the employment of our staff and £11,473 on our other running costs.

At the end of 2024 the Easter Team held a total of £102,196 including £35,522 in restricted funds.

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024

www.theeasterteam.org

3

During 2024 the Easter Team received donations and grants from:

Utility Top Ups paid for clients

----- Start of picture text -----
2024
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
996 top 829 top 1103 top 1223 top 1743 top 1392 top
ups ups ups ups ups
ups
----- End of picture text -----

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024

www.theeasterteam.org

4

Summary of Accounts

Summary of Accounts for the year ending 31 December 2024

INCOME (£)
Grants from UK Government
Grants from Crawley Borough Council
Grants from West Sussex County Council
Other grants
Donations from individuals & churches etc
Gift aid
Contributions to shared costs
Interest
EXPENDITURE (£)
Food for food
parcels
Food vouchers for clients
Gas & electricity top-ups for clients
Employment of staff
Hire & purchase of shipping container at Hub
Van, mileage and fares
Consumables
Insurance
Premises
Pest control
Phone calls & text messages
Equipment
Refreshments etc
Accountant
Electricity for Hub
Other expenditure
Net Income / Expenditure
BALANCES AT THE END OF THE YEAR
(£)
Deposit accounts
Current accounts
Petty cash		 56,704
45,623
10,000
12,313
39,647
6,487
234
2,759		 2024
£173,767
£133,691
£40,076
2024
96,935
4,966
295
£102,196		 0
22,500
0
29,766
37,918
7,895
10,420
965		 2023








£109,464
















£128,421
57,617
2,000
36,103
26,498
3,342
2,074
1,144
744
717
604
541
442
411
400
0
1,054		 45,359
0
47,346
23,881
1,301
1,650
867
656
745
705
603
2,679
234
390
950
1,055
-£18,957
2023
54,176
7,844
100
£62,120

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024

www.theeasterteam.org

5

OPERATIONS REPORT

----- Start of picture text -----
Su Parrish - Operations Manager
1256
households
served
6058 food parcels
3275
provided
individuals fed
( equates to 78.93
tonnes of food or
195,624 meals)
----- End of picture text -----

For this year’s report, I’m starting with the headline of just much activity has gone on to serve the people of Crawley. 1256 households represent 3275 individual people who have received food parcels in 2024, some of these may have just had 1 or 2 parcels to help them through a short term crisis but some will have had up to 20 parcels in the year. For many of our clients, the crisis caused by the rises in the cost of living is causing a state of ongoing crisis as for so many people, their income is exceeded by their essential outgoings. And we continue to see a rise in the number of working people experiencing food insecurity and even food poverty. It seems very unjust that clients on low incomes, who may be working as many hours as possible, who are prioritising paying their essential bills eg housing and utilities, simply do not have enough money left for enough food and have to turn to a foodbank. I refuse to accept that this situation should become “normal”.

With the support of the volunteer team, we have been able to prepare and distribute almost 79 tonnes of food, both in food parcels and in extra items like fresh produce, baked goods, toiletries and cleaning products. Clearly this would not happen without our team of volunteers who collect, sort, pack and transport it all. In addition, there are so many other roles undertaken by our volunteers: staffing the office and the phone line, registering new clients, data entry, maintaining the website, supporting with admin, giving out parcels, delivering parcels to housebound clients… the list goes on and I’m frightened to have The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024 6 www.theeasterteam.org

missed something! It really is such a large team with diverse skills and we genuinely rely on them all.

449 Christmas food parcels provided plus gifts and treats

Christmas 2024 was as busy as expected with over 6 tonnes of food / 13104 meals given out in the week before Christmas. Clients were offered choices of Christmas treats, all the makings of a Christmas meal and a gift. We had donations of advent calendars and selection boxes for the children as well as Christmas Eve boxes for the younger ones. Christmas can be an especially hard time for people (not just children) who aren’t expecting to be able to celebrate with the goodies that they see others having and it blesses us to be able to bless them.

The weather was kind to us on Christmas parcel week (well, it didn’t rain), so we were able to set up and decorate tables outside for clients to browse and make their selections. It all looked so festive that a passing member of the public asked if it was a Christmas market!! I took that as high praise – we aim to treat our clients with dignity in every way and I was delighted that we obviously didn’t look like a food bank!

Partnership working has strengthened our capacity to keep up with the demand for our service. We have valued our more formal partnerships with Crawley Open House, Christians Against Poverty and Love Your Neighbour as well as our informal collaborations with other local organisations like FreeShop Crawley, Crawley and Horley Hygiene Bank and Ten Little Toes Baby Bank. It’s been good to be able to support each other in so many ways eg sharing of resources, space, information and even training.

In 2024, we have been grateful for every donation received. These have taken the form of: prearranged supermarket deliveries, collections on local streets and shopping parades, collections at local churches and schools, both on a regular basis and at Harvest Festival, Christmas and Easter, workplaces and local companies, friends and neighbours, supermarket surplus as well as kind hearted people who just turn up with gifts. Our hosts at County Mall have even installed a donation station within the shopping centre.

Every single tin, jar or packet of food has been appreciated and makes a direct difference.

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024 7

www.theeasterteam.org

We gratefully thank:

St Margarets and Ifield Parish- Sue Gilbert St Mary’s Church St John’s, St Richard’s and St Peter’s Churches Crawley Labour Women’s Group Mad Dog Coffee Cook Horsham D’Nata Chris Sexton Three Bridges Football Club Pets at Home/Blue Cross Customers of Tesco Hazelwick Tesco Hookwood – Sally Rightbuild Maidenbower Infants School Manor Green Primary School Ifield Community College Tiny Happy People 2[nd] Crawley Ifield Scout Group Right At Home Hinal Patel, friends and colleagues

St Andrews Church Crawley Baptist Church Sussex Police Constable Collectors Infigo Balcombe Stores - Charlotte Cecil MacDonald Copthorne Youth Football Club County Mall Crawley Vets Customers of Sainsburys West Green Argos Crawley Wates Milton Mount Junior School Langley Green Primary School Thomas Bennett Community College Little Holly Hedgehog Broadfield Nursery Sam Cohen and family UPS Crawley

I thank you ALL for ALL you have contributed.

Su

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024

www.theeasterteam.org

8

VOLUNTEERS REPORT

Dave Orpin : Volunteer Coordinator

This was my first full year at the Easter Team, and as I said last year, I am continually amazed at the gift of time and commitment given to the Easter Team by our volunteers. We have had up to 70 people working at the Hub, warehouse and in other roles giving various amounts of time - from more than a day a week to two hours per month. Volunteers have contributed in the form of individuals as a way of expressing their faith or as a way to support their fellow Crawley residents, or in groups eg, the church and young people’s groups who’ve volunteered as a joint activity. We’re grateful for every hour volunteered – every week over 150 volunteering hours took place across our organisation. One volunteer said :

Oh my goodness! I get such a buzz out of being part of the team - everyone working together and then seeing the huge difference we make from those receiving our help. Such a lift. I come away smiling every time.

My highlight of the year was the Christmas parcel week when months of planning and collecting of food and gifts came to fruition. In the week just before Christmas, the whole volunteer team came together so that hundreds of clients could call at the Hub to receive a Christmas themed food parcel and gift items for themselves and their families. This week would not happen without the time, energy and festive jollity of our volunteer team.

70 people served as individual volunteers

Thank you to everyone for your time and commitment, donations of food or cash which has helped make a huge difference to so many lives in 2024.

Dave

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024

www.theeasterteam.org

9

“Thank you for my food parcel. I was so happy with the quantity I could pick. It is going to help me.”

“I wish to thank each and every one of you for dedicating your time to helping those make their Christmas very special”

Clients said…

----- Start of picture text -----
“I hope to come back and
offer my support when things
go well for me”
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
“Thank you so much for all
your practical help, it is very
much appreciated”
----- End of picture text -----

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024

www.theeasterteam.org

10

Governance

The Easter Team is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation and is registered charity number 1194018.

The trustees are appointed for terms of 3 years by the trustees. During 2024 the trustees were Sharon Golightly (Chair), Rosemary Benwell (Vice-chair & Secretary), John Lodemore (Treasurer), Rohan Andrew and Paul Davies. (Rohan has subsequently ceased to be a trustee.)

The Easter Team employs a part time Operations Manager (Su Parrish) and a part time Volunteer CoOrdinator (Dave Orpin). There were no other employees during 2024.

None of the Easter Team’s trustees or volunteers receives any remuneration or other benefit.

The trustees of the Easter Team follow the public benefit guidance issued by the Charity Commission.

During 2024 the Easter Team continued to work closely with Love Your Neighbour, Crawley Open House, Crawley Christians Against Poverty and local churches in those areas where our interests overlap.

Our office is open 10 – 2 Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Hols)

Contact Details:

Website : www.theeasterteam.org Email address: office@theeasterteam.org Office phone: 07940900948 Registered address: c/o Crawley Baptist Church, Crabtree Road, Crawley, RH11 7HJ Location: Behind County Mall – cream portacabin with blue shipping container

Operations Manager: operationsmanager@theeasterteam.org Volunteer Coordinator: volunteers@theeasterteam.org

The Easter Team – Annual Report – 2024 11

www.theeasterteam.org

Charity Name
The Easter Team		 Charity Name
The Easter Team		 Charity Name
The Easter Team		 No (if any)
1194018		 No (if any)
1194018		 No (if any)
1194018		 CC16a
For the period
from		 Period start date
01-Jan-24		 To Period end date
31-Dec-24
Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts Unrestricted
funds
to the nearest £
14,284
-
-
12,313
39,647
6,487
234
2,759

75,724
-
-
-
75,724
-
2,000
14,243
19,411
3,688
-
-
-
39,342
-
-
-
39,342
36,382
-
30,292
66,674		 Restricted
funds
to the nearest £
42,420
45,623
10,000
-
-
-
-
-
98,043
-
-
-
98,043
57,617
-
21,860
7,087
4,665
-
-
-
91,229
3,120
-
3,120
94,349
3,694
-
31,828
35,522		 Endowment
funds
to the nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 Total funds
to the nearest £
56,704
45,623
10,000
12,313
39,647
6,487
234
2,759
173,767
-
-
-
173,767
57,617
2,000
36,103
26,498
8,353
-
-
-
-
130,571
3,120
-
3,120
133,691
40,076		 Last year
to the nearest £
Grants from UK Government 14,284 -
Grants from CrawleyBorough Council - 22,500
Grants from West Sussex CountyCouncil - -
Othergrants 12,313 29,766
Donations 39,647 37,918
Gift Aid 6,487 7,895
Contributions to shared costs 234 10,420
Interest 2,759 965
Sub total(Gross income for
AR)
75,724		 109,464
A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
-
- -
Sub total - -
Total receipts
A3 Payments
109,464

Charitable spending: Foodparcels		 - 45,359
Charitable spending: Food vouchers 2,000 -
Charitable spending: Gas & elec topups 14,243 47,346
Runningcosts: Employment of staff 19,411 23,881
Runningcosts: Other 3,688 11,835
- -
- -
- -
**Sub total ** 39,342 128,421
A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)

Purchase of shippingcontainer		 - -
- -
**Sub total ** - -
Total payments
Net of receipts/(payments)
A5 Transfers between funds
A6 Cash funds last year end
Cash funds this year end
128,421
36,382 3,694 - 40,076 - 18,957
- - - - -
30,292 31,828 - 62,120 81,077
66,674 35,522 - 102,196 62,120

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

23/10/2025

1

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
Categories
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
B5 Liabilities
B3 Investment assets
B2 Other monetary assets
B4 Assets retained for the
charity’s own use
B1 Cash funds		 Details
Details
Total cash funds
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Deposit accounts
Current accounts
Petty cash
Details
Details
Shipping container
Sundry equipment
Details
Signature		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
61,413
35,522
4,966
-
295
-
66,674
35,522
OK
OK
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
to nearest £
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
asset belongs
Cost (optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Fund to which
liability relates
Amount due
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Print Name
John Lodemore		 Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
OK
Endowment
funds
to nearest £
-
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
Current value
(optional)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
When due
(optional)
Date of
approval
John Lodemore 11-Jul-25

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

23/10/2025

2

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the truste mombers of The Easter Team On accounts for the year end 31.12.2024 Charity no (If anyl 1194018 Sèt out on pago$ 1- 2 of ts Receipts & Payments Accounts I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the al)ove chanty (Ihe Trusf) for the year ended 31112r2024. Re$pon$lbllltle8 and AS the charrty tNStees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation ba•18 of roport of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Acr). I report in re8pe¢t of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 ofthe 2011 Act and in Carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145151(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confimi that no material matters have come to my attenb'on {other than disclosed below) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect.. accounting records were not kept in accordan¢e with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting record8 Indepandent examlngr's statement I have no concems and have come across no other matters In connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Slgned: D•t•: 2211012025 Name: Alan IAfjgley FC Relevant professional qualificatlon{s) or l>ody lrfany): Chartered Accountant I ICAEW Addrn83: Soteria Accountancy Ground Floor, 8 Magellan Terrace Ga￿1th Road Crawley RH10 9PJ IER October 2018

Section B Disclosure Only complete rf the examiner needs to highlight matters of conorn (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). If nothing to disclose, pl88S8 enter NA below Glve here brfef detalls of any Items that the examiner wlshas to disclose. IER October 2018