Cwtch Mawr

Cwtch Mawr is a multi-bank, providing essential goods to those in need. We are partnered with a number of charities and groups throughout Swansea, who refer individuals and families to us for donations of essential items. At the moment our referral form is updated each week, depending on deliveries and stock fluctuations – and each week we ask our partners to use the most up-to-date document to send in their referrals on. All collections are done via the partners we work with, as we are not a customer facing site.

What We Do

Cwtch Mawr, which means ‘Big Hug’ in English, is Wales’s first Multibank – a community donations hub offering support for families experiencing poverty across Swansea. It provides surplus essentials, such as warm clothes, hygiene products, school uniforms, and bedding donated by businesses, like Amazon, directly to those in need. The products are redistributed via the lead charity partner, Faith in Families, to charity groups and care professionals who give them directly to people in need, when they need them.

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About us

A Multibank is a clothes bank, bedding bank, baby bank, hygiene bank and furniture bank all rolled into one. The idea is simple: companies have the surplus goods people need and local charities know the people who need them. The Multibank initiative connects the two to reduce the effects of poverty while contributing to a more circular economy.

In 2024 we distributed 140,000 care packages across Swansea Bay through our multibank. By offering a lifeline to those who need it most, we’re not just addressing immediate needs; we’re empowering individuals and families to thrive. We believe that meaningful change is only possible when communities come together. Collaboration with like-minded organisations, businesses, and individuals can amplify our impact, helping us to reach even more families in need.

Community support organisations, schools and colleges, homeless shelters, and elderly support services in the area have taken delivery of essential supplies from Cwtch Mawr, including Swansea Council’s social services, Llamau, Swansea Asylum Seekers Support, and Swansea Young Families.

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Get in touch using our referral form:

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"The cost-of-living crisis has for too many families become a real, day-in-day-out struggle to make ends meet because the money simply runs out before the end of each month. We have designed the Multibank initiative to accept returned, surplus or overruns of goods from UK companies and via local charity partners, like Faith in Families, we can get items like nappies, school uniforms, dusters, and duvets, straight into the hands of social workers, teachers, and health practitioners for social prescribing. The business partners who have joined our Coalition of Compassion are directly able to alleviate immediate need for warm clothes, hygiene products and essential household items to support those who need them at the time they actually need the help."

"We are delighted to bring together this coalition of partners to launch Cwtch Mawr, Wales’s first Multibank. Our two existing Multibanks are having a huge impact across Scotland and Greater Manchester, helping families in poverty while contributing to a more circular economy by putting surplus products to good use. I’m very grateful to the many colleagues from across Amazon who have brought their logistics expertise, passion for innovation, and dedication to helping our local communities, to this project, and who will enable us to support tens of thousands of families across South Wales this year, and beyond.”

“The Multibank is a fantastic model, with businesses based locally donating goods which can then be provided free to people who need them, helping to keep money in their pockets. Cwtch Mawr will help people who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis to access essential goods and support easily in one place. This is an excellent example of partnership working, with the public, private and voluntary sectors coming together. I’m proud Welsh Government is supporting this project and hope to see it expand over the next five years.”

“I am very proud that Swansea Council is a founding partner in Cwtch Mawr and I’d like to thank all those involved in working to open this Multibank in our city to support the many families and individuals who are struggling with the cost-of-living crisis. This will make a very real difference to many thousands of people in the months and years to come and means there will be support with essentials when they need it most.”

“When people come together to support each other we all will have a better life. Cwtch Mawr is a collaboration of different sectors wanting to bring hope and support to those who face some of the most challenging situations in life, right here in our communities. This big Welsh Hug can be transformational for Swansea and South Wales. From gifting children with brand-new football boots so that they can take part in their school team, to maternity packs for new Mums so they can have dignity going into hospital, these things really matter. People are barely surviving right now, children are normalising discomfort and hunger, individuals are facing hopeless situations. Cwtch Mawr will make a difference in people’s lives and for the planet, a real anti-poverty, anti-pollution, engagement solution.”