About us
Core Foundations has taken on the franchise model developed by the award winning Christian homeless charity Hope into Action.
Their strategy is to deliver professional excellence powered by spiritual passion. Following their tried-and-tested model will provide us with support and guidance throughout this journey.
We have also partnered with a leading social housing provider who has agreed to provide us with the houses for our tenants in the north east area.
County Durham Christian Life Centre (CDCLC) is our partner Church supporting this community outreach project, but what has been fantastic is many local churches in Consett and the surrounding area are inspired to join us to work together, united to show God’s love in a practical and meaningful way by meeting people’s needs.
For more information on both of our partners please click on the relevant icons below to their websites.
Who we are
Meet the current team at Core Foundations.
Caroline Crawford
Chair of Trustees and Marketing
Caroline works full time as the managing director in our family business in transport and logistics in Cramlington.
She is a mum with 2 grown up children and has been married to Phil for 30 years!
A proud north east girl brought up in Northumberland but have lived in Snods Edge for over 10 years and have a passion for helping people in the north east.
Caroline is one of the leaders within a new church in Consett, CDCLC, and she volunteers as a Street Pastor in Newcastle City Centre on a Saturday night.
Gordon Mitchell
Governance Trustee
Gordon is married to Tanya with 2 grown up sons and has lived in Shotley Bridge for 33 years.
His career started in nursing leading to Principle Lecturer in Mental Health and Learning Disabilities at Teesside University and Associate Dean looking after governance, clinical placements.
Brought up a Christian he was involved as part of the PCC of St. John’s Church at Snods Edge and chairman. He was also a member of St. John’s Hall and chairman until about 3 years ago.
Now retired Gordon currently helps at our local Trussell Trust food bank and enjoy volunteering at a local charity Nourish Food that teaches people cooking skills, in particular those going through rehabilitation for addictions.
Ruth Foreman
Fundraising Trustee
Ruth has lived and worked locally most of her life. She is happily married with 2 grown up girls and 2 grandchildren.
Her professional background, prior to retirement, was working with children and families within health and education.
She has always been involved in community events and love to encourage and help people to achieve their own goals.
Her faith is an integral part of her life and she is excited with the opportunities ahead in her Trustee role. Ruth believes everyone should be able to have a home, a place of belonging and to feel loved and valued.
Ruth enjoys spending time on her new allotment and love to travel.
Bev Anderson
Treasurer and Admin Trustee
Married to Nigel with 2 children, living in Shotley Bridge for the last 22 years, Bev attends CDCLC church, hosting a housegroup, supporting the Alpha courses and other community activities.
Trained with EY accountants in Newcastle upon Tyne, specialising in corporate finance and restructuring.
Her last 12 years have been spent working in the charitable sector, as food bank manager setting up new food bank centres across County Durham and then working for the Trussell Trust nationally to help foodbanks address underlying causes of food crisis.
For the last 5 years Bev has been managing the debt advice project for a local Christian charity.
Phil Crawford
Project Lead and Hope into Action Contact
Phil has worked for large corporate businesses in retail for over 30 years.
Over these last 2 years he has been drawn to working in the homeless sector and joined the Hope into Action team as their North East and Scotland Representative, helping extend their growth.
Keen to see this excellent model rolled out in his home area he had the vision for Core Foundations.
He is a leader within CDCLC church and volunteers as a Street Pastor in Newcastle, and he is also a local parish councillor.
Phil doesn’t have much spare time but loves anything sports, in particular golf and rugby!
Kim Nesbit
Church Champion and Friendship & Support Coordinator
Kim has lived in the Consett area for 31 years and retired from her position as an Exercise Specialist for the NHS 6 years ago.
Up until 2020 she continued to take a number of exercise classes in Church halls in the Consett area.
She has a passion for helping people to live as fulfilling a life as they possibly can and like to try and keep abreast of local activities to help with this.
At the end of the pandemic Kim and her husband Robert became involved with CDCLC, a newly planted Church in Consett and have become regular attenders.