THIS week, we are shouting about a Pinehurst charity that has changed the lives of local young people for two decades.

SMASH, the youth mentoring charity based at Pinetrees Community Centre, is celebrating its 20th birthday this year.

“We’re super proud of all the work that we’ve done over the years,” said chief executive Helen Fisher. “SMASH was started in 1999 to address the very real need to support Swindon’s young people and that is something that is still consistent today.”

The charity was established to support young offenders over the age of 16. Now it supports individuals aged nine to 19 from a range of referral routes.

Over the years SMASH has helped 2,000 young people and trained 500 volunteer mentors.

Helen said: “We help children who through no fault of their own can’t reach their own potential.”

The charity recently launched a group schools work programme and works to increase self esteem, confidence and resilience in children and young people.

“With these mental foundations in place, children then go on to engage with society more around them and they go on to be able to create and build relationships,” said Helen.

“Not only do we help the individuals, we help the community through the social impact of what we do,” she added.

Children and young people mentored through the charity have gone on to university, stayed in education, secured jobs or work placements, among other things.

“All of them have made friendships, and have had better relationships,” said Helen.

One of the charity’s biggest achievements over the years was receiving the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services in June 2018.

“The reason that is so poignant to us is because it’s retrospective, so we were given the award for the work that had been done. To be able to have the Queen’s acknowledgement for every person that has ever been part of SMASH was amazing,” said Helen.

Future plans for the organisation include widening its services to support families as well as individual children. “The demand for our services is as high as it has ever been,” said Helen.“We know that if families’ needs are met then the chance of the sustainable change in the child is greatly increased,” Helen added.

To mark its anniversary the charity is looking for SMASH champions in local businesses and workplaces to support its work and fundraising initiatives.

Anyone interested should contact volunteeratsmash@gmail.com or call 01793 729 748.