A NEWLY founded charity is already making a big impact, taking on increasingly bigger challenges.

The Slough-based Shazad Yaseen Foundation (SYF) was founded in the memory of Shazad Yaseen, a Slough man who died aged 32 whilst on a charitable mission in Pakistan, following a road accident. The charity initially began with helping the homeless of Slough, but has now expanded to include international aid efforts.

Ifraz Yaseen, of the SYF, said: "We started off with helping the homeless of Slough, but since then its really kicked off.

"We now do a homeless feed every week, at 7pm, Saturday, on the High Street, and we're also doing work in Tanzania and Malawi, in addition to other efforts across Africa and Asia.

"In Malawi,we've done food packs for the poor, and we flew out to Tanzania to help children there with food and school education books and supplies. And in Pakistan, we've done free medical camps – in one of them, we served over 300 people.

The SYF's activities are co-ordinated by four core team leaders: Saiqa Yaseen, Hamza Siddique, Samantha Simmons, and Selmah Iman, who each manage the SYF's growing network of volunteers. The SYF has recently expanded to offer monthly homeless feeds in Wakefield, which the charity hopes will become weekly.

Mr Yaseen said: "We haven't existed for a full year yet, and we've already moved on to do big things. We are, of course, going to continue working with the homeless – as homelessness really shouldn't exist in Slough. Sadly, however, the numbers of homeless here are increasing – there are so many homeless people coming to us every Saturday. We really want to make sure we eliminate homelessness in the area."

For more details about donating or volunteering with the SYF, visit: www.syf-relief.com.