Beach realtor captures FAR humanitarian award
Fort Myers Beach realtor Cynthia Shafer is all about helping children and proves it by devoting many hours and tireless effort during 20 years as a guardian ad litem representing abused, abandoned and neglected children in Southwest Florida.
During the years, Shafer has been involved in Voices For Kids of Southwest Florida, started the offshoot Bedz for Kidz (15 years and running) and Duffels for Dignity programs and has collected many honors and distinctions through her recognizable voluntary actions.
On Aug. 20, Shafer was named the 2015 Humanitarian of the Year by Florida Realtors at the state association’s annual Convention & Trade Expo at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando. This marks the second time that the Lahaina Realty real estate agent has picked up the compassionate award after being selected as 1998 Humanitarian by state realtors.
“I just wish the kids could see this,” Shafer said. “Every time I get one of these awards, it’s really all about the kids. When I received the award, I said thank you from the children I represent.”
A member of the Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers & the Beach, Shafer has racked up other realty-based honors, such as the Good Neighbor Award by the National Association of Realtors in 2002, and Florida Realtors’ 2009 Associate Realtor of the Year.
These distinctions add to a long list of service-related accolades, including 2015 WGCU Maker (Women Who Make Southwest Florida), 2010 Voices For Kids Outstanding Service Award and humanitarian for Women’s Council of Realtors and Lee County attorneys and judges. She was even named as the Honorary Grand Marshal for the Edison Festival Grand Parade of Light in 2012.
For Shafer, it is not personal attention that drives her. It is about getting the word out about children in need.
“The more people that know about child advocacy, the more people we can help,” she said.
In all, Shafer has been a child advocate for more than 45 years. She began by teaching disadvantaged children how to read while she was still in high school.
“I started at Project Head Start teaching kids how to read when I was a senior in high school in St. Petersburg. I also volunteered at the abused children’s home,” she said. “My grandmother taught me you have a lot of energy in your life, and it has to put to good use. Thank god, she pointed me in the right direction.”
As an adult, she spends her weekends traveling across Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Hendry and Glades delivering beds, bedding and other related items for children who have been removed from their parents’ care as a result of abuse or neglect. These children are then placed in the care of a relative or foster home and assigned a Guardian ad Litem volunteer advocate. Bedz for Kidz make a difference.
Shafer gives a lot of credit to her husband John and sister Donna who both help in the preparation stages (building beds, making beds with appropriate linen, etc.) and delivery of anywhere between one to 20 beds on any given Saturday for 15 some-odd years. The gesture allows transplanted children who may not have the things they need to make a move comfortable and less traumatic. The program has provided up to 300 new beds and bedding annually in emergency situations throughout the five counties in Southwest Florida.
“My husband has been there every Saturday driving the truck, and my sister helps me make the beds by putting the blankets and sheets on,” Shafer said.
The different-sized beds are purchased with donation money, set up, dressed up with sheets, pillow and blankets and given a stuffed animal as a caring touch. This comes after Cynthia does spreadsheet work and phone calls to set up deliveries as well as packaging sheets and other items on Thursday and any purchases, vehicle organization and bed setups on Friday.
The Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs are generous donors for the cause, while the Southwest Quilters Guild sews at least 100 quilts a year for toddler, crib, twin and double beds. Another group, The Linus Project, also makes blankets and pillows for the program. Girl Scouts Troop 292 provided and boxed up 15 sets of sheets recently. Barnes and Noble supplies books.
“I have good people that help me,” Shafer said. “Price Cutters helps load the trucks. Jerry’s Tires keeps my trucks working and gets us the U Hauls. You can’t ask for a better community than Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach and Cape Coral.”
100+ Women Who Care of Southwest Florida took notice recently. In May, that Naples-based group of women chose the Guardian ad Litem-administered program after Shafer joined and successfully pitched her Bedz for Kidz program as a beneficiary for its annual donation contest that totaled $23,000.
“I feel very lucky, and I am really happy,” said Shafer then. “All the new women put their charity names in a hat and three were selected. They then had five minutes to explain about their charity and one was chosen.”
Shafer is an honorary board member of the GAL Foundation. She has been president-CEO for Bedz for Kidz for more than 20 years after her involvement in Voices For Kids.
Shafer drums up more interest by talking to church groups and other organizations to get the word out on the important cause. Local Realtor associations have also helped out through fundraising auctions.
Shafer has been a professional realtor in Southwest Florida since 1993. She is a past president of the Fort Myers Beach Board of Realtors and past state chapter president of Women’s Council of Realtors.
If anyone would like to donate to the cause, make a check out to: Florida Guardian ad Litem, 2075 W. First St. (#300), Fort Myers, FL 33901 or call 533-1425. Make the donation to Bedz for Kidz by adding ‘beds’ to the memo line. Go to guardianadlitem.org to learn more.
Raffle to win Mercedes
The Realtor Association of Greater Fort Myers & the Beach is raffling a Mercedes (not a lease, an actual car).
You do not need to be a Realtor to purchase a ticket. The drawing will take place at local Realtor Trade Show on Wednesday, Sept. 16. You do not need to be present to win.
Only 750 tickets are being sold. If all are not sold, the raffles turns into a 50/50 raffle. The cost is only $100 to enter raffle. The breakdown involves $50 going to Realtor Political Action Committee and $50 going to the cost of the car. If you do not want the car, you can take the money equivalent of $37,500.
While the local realty group pays the taxes on the car, you will be responsible for the “income” tax piece.
Call Paula at 463-0000 (ext. 128) or email her at paula@fmbsun.com for more details. Tickets are on sale at Lahaina Realty.