The Amazon Australia learning ambassador from Regents Park delivery station, has one of the biggest hearts you will ever encounter, making time to help out charities, neighbours, refugees, widows, workmates and complete strangers to inspire hope and spread joy in the community.
I’m not doing it for me, I’m doing it for them, and when I see them happy, that’s what makes me happy
“As humans we always expect a reward, whether it’s congratulations or money or whatever. For me my reward is to see people happy.”
And the mum-of-three from Fairfield in Sydney’s western suburbs has also seen her fair share of darkness, admitting that she’s been to “hell and back” after suffering anxiety and depression, before turning her life around by helping others.
The turning point for this committed Christian came about 10 years ago when Cinthya, 51, experienced a “midlife crisis” and instead of buying a sports car like some people do, she decided to change her life by selflessly helping others.
“For the last 10 years my life has been wonderful and now I feel like it’s my time now to give back, and the more I give the more I get, and that drives me to continue,” she says, adding that her only personal ambition is to one day start a charity to help children of divorced parents.
Early last year Cinthya went one step further in her quest to help others when she and husband William completed an intensive course to become licensed foster parents, and they now provide respite care for foster children.
“When they come to our home it’s like going to Wonderland or Disneyworld for them,” she says. “We take them out, we buy them clothes and we feed them all the yummy food they want. We just make sure they have the best time of their lives and then we send them home happy.”
The children that come to stay can stay for a weekend or for weeks at a time, and Chilean-born Cinthya, who says she and William both experienced “harsh” childhoods, treat each child they care for with empathy and respect.
“Yes, it is hard because you put yourself in their shoes and you feel for them really deeply,” she admits.
When they are with me, I’m like a mama figure to them and I’m strong and I show them that there is light at the end of the tunnel and give them some sort of hope. I try to use my own experience, and for everything bad that has happened to me, something good has come about afterwards.
“I try to focus on the positive side of everything, and make them understand there is nothing we can do to fix the past, but there is lots we can do improve the future. I don’t focus on what has happened to them, but what can happen to them if they decide to turn their lives around.”
The unstoppable Cinthya also helped organised a fundraiser, collecting money for children with leukemia during the company’s annual an Amazon Goes Gold fundraising event, and a sausage sizzle for children’s charity, Canteen. “Right now, I’m collecting for the Christmas hampers to help some of the single mums who work at Amazon,” she says.
She and William and their three daughters, Natasha, 25, Fiona, 20 and Lucia, 12, pitch in each year to prepare up to 80 Christmas hampers to spread the joy, and help families in need. “We are people of faith and we help a lot,” she says simply.
“I honestly can tell you my blessings come every day. I don’t have any needs of any kind – health, financial, love. I am blessed enough to bless others and that’s what drives me to do this kind of thing.”
