Hidden poverty
Seven kids sharing a bed, no lightbulbs and a mattress on the floor... the shocking real-life stories of Valleys ‘families too poor even to go to the charity shop’:
“HIDDEN poverty” is leaving some families in the South Wales Valleys without beds or even light bulbs, a charity has revealed.
In one case seven children were being forced to “top and tail” in one bed while their parents slept on the floor.
A four-year-old girl also told them she had only ever slept on a mattress on the floor and they found an elderly woman, who had just been discharged from hospital, sat on a garden chair in a totally bare flat with no electricity.
“We see shocking stories four to five times a week,” said Julian Cash, who founded Pontycymmerbased Community Furniture Aid (CFA) with wife Marianne.
It helps people in the Bridgend valleys and Rhondda, but has also worked in Barry and Port Talbot.
Marianne added: “We are helping the people that are too poor to go to the charity shop.”
In just three years the charity has completely furnished 265 homes with items donated by the public – everything from knives and forks to sofas.
But now CFA itself is in desperate need of help and is appealing for volunteers to help them shift the furniture, do administration work and fundraise.
Marianne said they have been told their charity, which they started from scratch three years ago and run as volunteers, is “not glamorous enough” to get the help of bigger organisations.
“If we were helping rough sleepers they would help us, but people don’t like to think this is happening. Hidden poverty is absolutely huge here,” she said.
The couple – who previously volunteered for a similar charity in Pyle, near Bridgend, which closed due to lack of funds – receive referrals from up to 30 agencies including Bridgend council, housing associations, the Salvation Army, homelessness charities The Wallich and Llamau, Armed Forces charity SSAFA and mental health charity Gofal.
They have seen people fleeing abusive relationships, ex-forces personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder and homeless families allocated accommodation which has not got one stick of furniture in it or even light bulbs, but once the keys have been handed over they are largely left to fend for themselves.
“Most people you see just have a couple of carrier bags and cardboard boxes,” said Marianne who, despite being registered disabled, runs CFA from a century-old former church they’ve dubbed The Gothic in the Garw Valley. The grade II-listed building features a rare stained glass window – one of only four of its kind in the world – and an organ which is a registered ancient instrument.
But CFA has not got the money to renovate its base or even get the electricity turned on.
The charity provides what it calls “packs” of basic furniture – beds, tables and chairs – at a fraction of what they would cost from charity shops, with the price paid by either the individuals or the agencies that are helping them. And, to ensure properties feel like a home, they’ll also provide duvets, bedding, curtains, toys, cutlery, rugs, pots, pans and even pictures for the walls and ornaments, which have all been donated.
They can furnish a four-bedroom home for just £140, including van rental. And, thanks to the support of food bank organisation FareShare and Tesco, they can also give families basic groceries to get them started.
Marianne said charging these small sums has enabled the charity to be virtually self-reliant – apart from a small donation from the Co-op – and has kept it going until now.
But with just four volunteers she said CFA badly needs extra assistance if it’s to continue its work.
Julian and Marianne hope that by sharing stories from their work they will encourage others to back them.
“We had an older lady who had been unwell in hospital for six months,” said Marianne. “She had rented accommodation, furnished, where she’d lived for 40 years. But when she came out of hospital she no longer had her home so she was put into empty accommodation. When the guys arrived with the van they found her on a garden chair in the dark – this was in the middle of winter – no gas or electric and not a single thing, just concrete floors and bare walls.
“So the boys went off and came back, got the power on. Then they furnished the home – came back with all those things you need. We made sure she had a bed that was comfortable, especially as we knew she had been in hospital, pictures, curtains and she said she had never known such kindness from strangers to exist.
“That’s what we do it for. We do it so that people have a home.
“She has never got to worry again that she will have her home taken away from her and that makes us feel really happy that what we are doing makes a difference.”
Julian said: “We helped a lady that came out of a hostel. She had been in an abusive relationship and she had lost all self confidence. She was in a hostel for two years and