Today we would like to introduce you to David Lockwood, who Lives UNITED with a commitment to bettering relationships within our community and by creating a lasting impact in literacy by serving as a Readers are Leaders (RAL) volunteer tutor.
“Teaching someone to read is one of the few guaranteed ways to improve the world," says David Lockwood, Readers Are Leaders tutor and long-time community volunteer. "As a reading tutor, you get maximum reward for a relatively small time commitment and get to bring excitement to students surrounding books and literacy!”
David and his wife first moved to Kenosha in 2011, and the two have not looked back once. David notes how in 2017 he learned about a Black Lives Matter group at his church and wanted to stay in Kenosha that much more ever since.
The group identified strained relations within Kenosha as a primary issue. One of the solutions to help repair those strained relations was to mentor and tutor youth in our community. As a proposed objective, it was brought up that partnering with United Way of Kenosha County to participate in the Readers Are Leaders tutoring program was the best way to help achieve this goal. David and his church wanted to join an organization that was truly passionate and dedicated to helping youth and knew that, with United Way of Kenosha County’s 100 years of service, Readers Are Leaders was the perfect place to start.
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David first became an active RAL volunteer in 2022 and was immediately thrilled to be part of such an awesome and impactful program. Prior to volunteering himself, in 2020, he helped establish a group of volunteers for the Readers Are Leaders program, but those efforts were unfortunately postponed due to COVID-19 safety restrictions that emerged at that time.
Additionally, aside from Readers Are Leaders, David also serves as a tutor through Kenosha Literacy Council (KLC). Since 2016, David has volunteered at KLC doing both individual and group tutoring. Further, we are proud to partner with Kenosha Literacy Council through our Community Investment program and think it is pretty neat how David is able to lend a hand and give back in a way that he loves through both of our organizations.
Another way David makes a positive impact in our community is through working extensively with Congregations United to Serve Humanity (CUSH). Through his involvement, during 2022, David and his family helped settle an Afghan refugee family, including tutoring the family of eight and teaching them English language skills and other important life skills as well.
Literacy has been a lifelong source of happiness for David who enjoys many books and varying genres. In fact, his favorite books are any that get students excited to read and learn more.
To individuals who are considering getting involved in United Way of Kenosha County, think about what it takes to make a positive impact. David considers participating in Readers Are Leaders as a great and humbling experience knowing that he has helped impact a child’s life for the better and helped them gain a lifelong ability and love of reading. Being a tutor helped David realize just how important this type of work is while also learning more about the pressing needs of our community.