MAC Volunteer Spotlight: Cynthia Cindric
Cynthia Cindric joined the MAC family in December 2016 and has been a dedicated volunteer on Wednesdays during administrative hours. She has excelled in entering clients’ information into MAC’s Salesforce Database, while simultaneously telling riveting stories of her travels and past volunteer experiences. Cynthia has visited over twenty countries and has lived in more than fifteen cities in her lifetime, as her husband spent eleven years serving in the military. She has always made volunteering a major aspect of her living in a new city and MAC is fortunate that she found us after moving to Atlanta a little over a year ago.
Cynthia has had various volunteer experiences, such as working as a tutor for underprivileged youth in Baltimore and serving military personnel through United Service Organizations. But the mission and spirit of the MAC has made it one of her favorite volunteer experiences.
She first learned of MAC through a ministry fair at her congregation, the Basilica of Sacred Heart of Jesus. MAC’s Associate Director Jenny Jobson was working the booth and she and Cynthia got to talking about the mission of MAC. Cynthia was drawn to volunteer with MAC because of the work it does to prevent homelessness in its immediate community. After spending over six months volunteering at MAC, she said that it’s “the fact that the staff treats me and the other volunteers with dignity and respect” that keeps her coming back. “It’s the good spirits of those who work and volunteer here, which make such a cheerful atmosphere. I think that’s pretty special.”
As one of MAC’s volunteers who handles client data entry, she has had the opportunity to learn a lot about the challenges that people in our community face every day. Cynthia recalled a particular client’s story that impacted her- “There was a young man who had been doing well for himself, but came to MAC for help after he adopted his two young nephews. Here is a young man, who was making ends meet for himself and was probably not ready to care for children, but unexpectedly had to take on the role of parent. That was very eye-opening for me”.
Cynthia’s favorite thing about MAC is how it brings together the whole community. “People who are in need but also people who are looking for ways to make their community a better place. There really are not many organizations that work at that interface. MAC does a really good job of bringing the two together,” she said. “The volunteers and supporters of MAC that I’ve met are all super people; it’s really a great group to work with.”
