While still in high school, Cynthia Shafer began teaching disadvantaged children how to read and hasn’t stopped volunteering since. She now serves as a court-appointed child advocate for abused, neglected and abandoned children, shepherding the children through the legal system and recommending whether they should be placed in foster care. Cynthia spends her weekends between two programs she created: “Beds and Bedding” and “Duffels for Dignity”. Both provide items to transplanted children who may not have simple items that makes moving more comfortable and less traumatic, like a bed, a toothbrush, and a stuffed animal.