From the beginning

When Faith in Families was little more than an idea and a handful of church representatives around a table, Esther Searle was there.

More than 25 years later, as she steps down as a trustee of the Swansea-based charity, she is leaving behind an organisation that has grown into one of the most ambitious anti-poverty initiatives in Wales — one that has drawn in Amazon, Gordon Brown, and the Welsh Government, and is now reaching families across South and West Wales.

Esther was asked to represent her church when the Diocese of Swansea and Brecon was helping to establish what was then known as the Diocesan Board for Social Responsibility. Her vicar asked if she would take it on. She thought it sounded interesting.

"It was much more informal then," she said. "But it's really grown."

Faith in Families was founded in 1999 to support children and families facing poverty, trauma and crisis in some of Swansea's most deprived communities. Operating under the motto "Hugs not Handouts," it established Community Cwtches — neighbourhood centres offering practical support, childcare, therapy and adult learning — beginning in Bonymaen, one of the most disadvantaged parts of the city.

For Esther, the need was never in doubt. "There's a lot of poverty," she said. "Huge amounts of poverty. And that's where it was based, where it was needed."

What she watched develop over the following decades was the gradual transformation of a small, church-rooted initiative into a professionally-run charity with multiple centres, a growing staff team, and a national profile. Much of that, she says, is down to one person — CEO Cherrie Bija.

"She was such an enigmatic leader. She was just absolutely right for the job."

The most visible expression of that vision is Cwtch Mawr, launched in 2024 as Wales' first multibank. The model — pioneered nationally by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown — takes brand-new surplus goods from businesses and routes them through trusted local organisations to families in need. Clothing, bedding, school uniforms, baby essentials: items that would otherwise go to waste, directed instead to the people who need them.

The scale of what Faith in Families has built around that model is striking. The warehouse had to be expanded after just one year. More than 140 partner organisations now distribute goods across South and West Wales. Funders include Amazon, the Welsh Government, and Swansea Council.

At the Cwtch Mawr launch, Brown described the initiative as part of a "Coalition of Compassion," designed to get essential items directly into the hands of social workers, teachers and health practitioners. Amazon's UK Country Manager, John Boumphrey, said it would support tens of thousands of families across South Wales.

Esther watched it all unfold. "They had to expand after one year," she said. "The warehouse wasn't big enough."

At trustee meetings, she says, she didn't say very much, but asked the questions that needed to be asked. "Other trustees have said to me that I asked the questions that needed to be answered but hadn't been asked by anyone else," she said.

Now, Esther has decided the time is right to hand over. "It's developed into a really busy business," she said. "It's changed into a completely different kind of charity, which I really support."

For Esther, the work has always been rooted in something deeper than charity. "It's part of my Christian faith," she said. "If there's something I can do to help in a practical way, that was a way I could fulfil my Christian duties."

She is a member of Clyne Chapel, where she has served as churchwarden and sat on various committees.

Her hope for the next phase is that Cwtch Mawr continues to spread across Wales, as Brown had envisaged. "As long as we've got local government support, that should continue growing," she said, "because people are realising what the need is and that we can do something about it."

"The children are directly benefited," she said, "as well as in physical terms — clothing and shoes and things they would have struggled to buy otherwise."

Find out more about Faith in Families and the work of Cwtch Mawr at faithinfamilies.wales.