Charity Bell, who is a student at Harvard, is one of only four emergency foster parents in Boston. Since 1999, she has selflessly given her time to provide foster care to the most needy infants who are born addicted to drugs. As a single woman in school full-time, she brings her foster children with her everywhere she goes, including to class and the library. Most of the 38 children she has fostered stay with her from a few days to a few months. She gets calls at all hours of the night, on weekends and holidays to take care of kids the state cannot place anywhere else.

Charity grew up on public assistance in a single-parent home and is the first woman in her family to go to college. She does not do her work as a foster parent for any recognition, or the $12 a day she gets as a foster mom. She does it because she believes it is the right thing to do and because she wants to encourage others to help out in their communities.

Charity's contribution to society goes beyond what could be expected of anyone. At the same time she is filling a gap in the foster care program, she also is studying at the Kennedy School of Government to try to find a way to advocate for and fix the problems inherent in the foster care system.

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