This year Easter Sunday falls on March 31st. But hope can never arrive too early. Like Spring. We want to celebrate the first splashes of yellow and forget the monochromes of Winter. You cut down the young blossoms, but Spring will still arrive.

But before the plant flowers its roots need attention. Here at Off the Fence we address the causes as well as the effects of poverty. Relationship breakdown, mental health, intermittent education, crime. addiction, job loss, addiction..

Easter is when despair turns into hope and even if you bury the truth it will always find its way back to the light. For thirteen centuries after Christ’s death and resurrection, Easter was celebrated as the primary Christian festival. Christmas became more prominent, but if it wasn’t for Easter there would be no point in Christmas.

The gift of life is precious, the gift of hope, life-changing.

Evan Esar said that ‘Easter is the only time when it is perfectly safe to put all of your eggs in one basket”. Everyone has an equal right to hope.

For families, friends and work groups Easter is a time of rest, relaxation and reflection. We take stock of our lives and give thanks for the things we have.

But it’s not like that for everyone.

Suppose all you could hope for is another dry night out in the cold without being disturbed? A reminder that the family you once had is broken. Or the hopeful marriage you once celebrated is now a bitter memory? Suppose it was just you, a cup of street coffee and the stars?

Yet Easter is a time when we are reminded that light comes after darkness.

Luke24:2-3:

"They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus."

Alone of all the major religions, Christianity is the only one without a sepulchre or shrine marking the location of the grave of its founder. Easter represents hope and a reminder that it is always possible to start again, clean the slate and say sorry. Spring always returns, even if it is flower by flower, petal by petal.

For 27 years at Off The Fence our favourite words have been renewal, restoration and resurrection. Our daily motivation is seeing the darkness begin to lighten in someone’s life.

Our clients' stories can include homelessness, abject poverty, lost families, bereavement, addiction, depression, domestic and sexual abuse, isolation and loneliness, financial difficulties, and physical and mental health problems.

But stories can have a happy ending. It took three days for Christ’s ordeal to end in triumph, seen alive by over 300 people after an empty tomb was found, a significant piece of rock removed, and critically, with all items of burial clothes neatly folded.

We are a Christian charity who serves everyone, regardless of colour or creed. To be reborn is one of the central pillars of our belief. Coming back to life doesn’t always have to mean reclaiming a heartbeat. Sometimes it means a new pair of shoes, a smile and somewhere to call home.