Helping families hard hit by ‘hidden’ poverty
THE spectre of “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 Pontycymmer-based 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.
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.
Marianne claims 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 organisations.
“Most people you see just have a couple of carrier bags and cardboard boxes,” said Marianne who runs CFA from a century-old former church they’ve dubbed The Gothic in the Garw Valley.
CFA has not got the money to renovate its base or even get the electricity turned on.
The charity provides what they call “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.
They can furnish a four-bed home for just £140, with that price 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.
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.”
Julian said: “We had seven kids topping and tailing in one bed, so we took bunk beds and single beds so they could all sleep separately and the parents didn’t have to sleep on the floor.”
Marianne said: “There was also one little girl who was about four and Julian was putting the legs on the bed he had delivered and she said ‘what are you doing?’
“He explained and then she ran downstairs and said to her mum, ‘I don’t have to sleep on the floor any more,’ because she had only ever known sleeping on the floor on a mattress.”
CFA can be contacted on 07597 317338 and is also on Facebook and Twitter @vintagevalleys