{"id":281812,"date":"2025-07-22T06:33:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T06:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/281812\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T06:33:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T06:33:21","slug":"first-welsh-multibank-charity-expands-to-reach-more-families-in-need-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/281812\/","title":{"rendered":"First Welsh Multibank charity expands to reach more families in need"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE CWTCH Mawr Multibank charity initiative, which launched in 2024 and has donated more than 640,000 surplus essential goods to 146,000 people in poverty, has officially opened the doors of its newly-expanded premises in Swansea Vale.<\/p>\n

Cwtch Mawr will now process donations from its newly expanded 15,000 sq. ft warehouse in Llansamlet, Swansea.\u00a0The new\u00a0Cwtch Mawr\u00a0facility will significantly increase the Multibank\u2019s capacity and allow for wider community reach, contributing to more than\u00a08 million goods which have already been delivered to help over 600,000 families from Multibanks in Scotland, Greater Manchester, London, Wales, Birmingham and Tees Valley.\u00a0This year the Multibank will send 1 million orders to families across the UK.<\/p>\n

The Cwtch Mawr Multibank is led by Swansea charity Faith in Families with support from Amazon, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Welsh Government, and Swansea Council. The expansion of the collaborative project marks a major step forward in the fight against poverty in South Wales.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cwtch Mawr Multibank\u2019s new premises will boost the Faith in Families\u2019 ambition to share one million new, unused household products by the end of 2025 with homes experiencing poverty across Carmarthenshire and the M4 belt.<\/p>\n

Amazon helped set up the Cwtch Mawr Multibank warehouse operations,\u00a0providing logistical expertise and tech support. Five employees from the nearby Amazon Swansea fulfilment centre worked on-site at the Multibank for the first full year of operation. As part of its support of the Cwtch Mawr Multibank, Amazon has transported over 570,000 essential items in 90 trucks and vans. Five Amazon trucks transported more than 35,000 essential items as part of the Multibank\u2019s new warehouse opening.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The expansion of the collaborative Multibank project, described by Mr Brown as a \u201ccoalition of compassion\u201d reflects the growing number of supplying business partners to the Multibank and a step forward in efforts to combat the detrimental effects of household poverty in South Wales.<\/p>\n

Since the opening of the first Multibank in Mr Brown\u2019s home county of Fife, Scotland three years ago, the Multibank charity, supported by Amazon, has opened six sites across the three nations and distributed 8 million separate products, via its hyper local charity partner networks \u2013 which include teachers, doctors, midwives, family support workers and micro-community charities \u2013 to 600,000 households experiencing poverty.<\/p>\n

The Wales\u2019 Multibank, Cwtch Mawr was also established with logistical, tech and warehouse support from Amazon UK and warehouse operations, providing logistical expertise and tech support. Five employees from the nearby Amazon Swansea fulfilment centre worked on-site at the Multibank for the first full year of operation.<\/p>\n

A range of organisations have provided funding to pay for rent and utilities, and to support the recruitment, salaries and training of additional staff, including Swansea Council, Pobl Housing Association, and The Moondance Foundation.<\/p>\n

A growing number of businesses are joining the Multibank network and donating goods to redistribute or logistical expertise to ensure products can be delivered. Newport based Sofitel now supports with toilet paper products, Palletline is supporting with delivery and warehouse storage and Mercedes has gifted first generation electric vans to sustainably support \u201clast mile\u201d deliveries. Colgate Palmolive, Tommy Tippee, Pura nappies are now also backers of the Swansea Multibank.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Cwtch Mawr, Cherrie Bija, CEO of Faith in Families, said: \u201cFamilies are facing pressures every day. Rising costs, limited support, and hard choices no one should have to make. We built Cwtch Mawr because the need was clear, and now we\u2019ve expanded it because the demand continues to grow. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis new space means we can do more: more stock, more reach, more impact. We\u2019re also in active talks with Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire councils to explore how this model could benefit more communities across South Wales. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the start, Gordon Brown and Amazon backed this idea, not with just words, but with real commitment. It\u2019s taken a wide network of support to make this happen; and we\u2019re just getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Boumphrey, UK Country Manager, Amazon, said: \u201cIt\u2019s incredible to see the positive impact that Cwtch Mawr is having on communities in South Wales. The new facility in Swansea demonstrates what\u2019s possible when businesses and community organisations unite with a clear mission. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy thanks go to our partners, including Faith in Families and my incredible Amazon colleagues, for their continued work in supporting the Multibank.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Rt Hon Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister and co-founder of the Multibank charity network said: \u201cIt\u2019s been just over 12 months since the opening of the Cwtch Mawr Multibank and now we\u2019re expanding to a brand-new warehouse three times the size \u2013 from 5,000 to 15,000 feet. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to scale up and bring yet more support to more households across South Wales after just one year is a great achievement by all those who have come together in Wales. <\/p>\n

\u201cTogether we are meeting unmet needs by using underused resources and we are giving so many people new hope and our coalition of compassion have made all the difference to thousands of lives.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Jane Hutt, who attended the opening alongside the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Welsh Language, Mark Drakeford, said: \u201cCwtch Mawr is a powerful example of what we can achieve when we work together with compassion and a shared commitment to help those in need. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to back its expansion, so it can continue changing more lives for the better. While we celebrate this success, we must also acknowledge the growing demand it meets, and the urgent need to tackle poverty at its roots. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we will have invested\u00a0nearly \u00a37 bn between 2022 and 2026 to reduce costs and maximise incomes for Welsh families. Our child poverty strategy sets out how we\u2019ll use all of our powers to meet our ambitious goals and support those who need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE CWTCH Mawr Multibank charity initiative, which launched in 2024 and has donated more than 640,000 surplus essential…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-281812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114895494004934838","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}