A VOLUNTEER took to the skies this weekend to raise awareness and funds for a youth mentoring charity – ahead of National Volunteers Week 2015.

Georgina Viveash, 22, from Royal Wootton Bassett strapped on her parachute for the charity skydive at Redlands Airfield in Wanborough in aid of Swindon Mentoring and Self Help – better known as SMASH.

And Zurich employee Georgina hopes to smash her personal target of £1,000 with the company matching 50 per cent of the funds raised.

Speaking before the dive she said: “I’m feeling pretty nervous. I’m booked in for the first jump at 8am so it’ll be a good wake-up call for me.”

Georgina was inspired to jump after her own leap into the unknown a year ago, when she became a youth mentor with SMASH.

The charity provides mentors for young people in Swindon who are struggling to cope with issues such as neglect, abuse, mental health problems, eating disorders, bullying, and bereavement.

SMASH matches mentors with young people based on common interests with Georgina placed with a 15-year-old girl who suffered from depression.

She said: “I wanted to do more to help out in the community. This came up at work and it seemed different from the other volunteering opportunities.

"It was a really big challenge to undertake but I’m so glad I did it. Just the fact that You get to know someone on a personal level and are matched with their interests.

“It helps and goes a long way when a young person realises the person spending time with them every week is a volunteer and isn’t being paid to be friends with them. They start to trust you more.

“In the end I feel we developed a really good friendship where we could relax around each other and go ice skating, which we both liked, or go for coffee”

Georgina soon realised that making new friends could be both fun and life-changing and is urging potential mentors to sign up during National Volunteers Week.

“I never thought that I could do this. I was 21 when I started and I thought that might go against me because I wasn’t that much older than the people I would be matched with. But it can really make a difference because the young people know you are making the choice to volunteer and to be there for them,” she said.

“Just to have that trust, it makes all the difference. You can show the people you’re matched with love and attention, that’s what they need and what SMASH is all about.”

National Volunteers Week thanks volunteers for the time and donations they have made to the community. More than 15 million people volunteer in the UK every month.

This year, for the first time, volunteers are encouraged to share their stories using the hashtag #ivolunteer to raise awareness and encourage others to participate in volunteering.

To sponsor Georgina visit www.justgiving.com/Georgina-Viveash/

To find out more about becoming a SMASH mentor visit www.smashyouthproject.co.uk, email admin@smashyouthproject.co.uk or call 01793 729748.