In the spirit of true altruistic volunteerism, in December 2008 Cynthia Bowers, who was 30 years old at the time, anonymously donated one of her kidneys to save the life of an 11-year-old at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Without asking for anything in return from the family, she anonymously volunteered to undergo a kidney transplant surgery. In January 2009, after she recovered from the surgery, Cynthia founded a non-profit organization called Phoenix Volunteers to help connect others in her community with meaningful ways to be of service to others. In March 2010, Cynthia founded Employee Reach to help local businesses connect their employees with meaningful volunteering outreach opportunities. Through these two nonprofit agencies, Cynthia has organized hundreds of hours of service for local non-profits, volunteering alongside Phoenix residents and providing rewarding and meaningful volunteer experiences. Cynthia supports nonprofit organizations in the Valley by organizing local volunteer opportunities. She designed an easy-to-use website that makes it simple for people to sign up to volunteer. She does all the leg-work by contacting the nonprofits, filling out their forms, collecting instructions, and scheduling the activities. She then posts the events on the website so Phoenix residents can participate. Cynthia organizes volunteers without the assistance of government funding, demonstrating a spirit of volunteerism that encourages individuals to better the lives of Arizonans with their own time and resources. Within the last 12 months, Cynthia has connected hundreds of individuals with volunteer opportunities in the Phoenix Area. Her efforts have resulted in over 500 hours of volunteer time donated to local nonprofits in the past year. Some examples of agencies that have benefited from her volunteer events are St. Mary's Food Bank, Ronald MacDonald House, Child Protected Services, as well as many homeless shelters, education advocacy programs, and fundraising events that benefit Phoenix charities. Cynthia believes in a community of individuals who take care of each other. She is a role model for taking responsibility for a community through personal service and sacrifice. She lives out her beliefs in an extraordinary way, tirelessly finding opportunities to improve the lives of others while inspiring us along the way.

Signed,
Russell Golland