United Way’s Real Men Read program brings positive male mentors into kindergarten classrooms
GREENCASTLE – Inside a classroom at Deer Meadow Primary School, kindergartners sat on the carpet with their legs crisscrossed, eyes fixed on the man in front of them.
From a rocking chair, volunteer John Tischer read Ezra Jack Keats’ “The Snowy Day.”
He asked questions as he went: How would they describe snow to someone who’d never seen it? What will they do first when it snows this winter? What’s going to happen when the boy in the book puts a snowball in his pocket?
Little hands shot up in the air.
“It’s going to melt!” several students shouted.
“He can get more snow tomorrow,” added another.
Once a month, Tischer and other volunteers read to kindergartners in 22 classrooms across Putnam County as part of Real Men Read. Organized by United Way of Central Indiana, the program is designed to bring positive male mentors into the lives of children and instill a love of reading at an early age.
This year’s program launched this month and will run through April.
“For the kids, it’s an opportunity to be seen and to be celebrated, to have someone from the outside come in who looks forward to visiting every month,” said Chris Flegal, United Way’s community relations director for Putnam, Hendricks and Morgan counties.
Now in its seventh year, the program was started by a board member of United Way of Putnam County, which merged earlier this year with United Way of Central Indiana. Similar versions of the program are held in communities throughout the U.S., organized by various United Ways and other organizations.
This year’s program reaches about 440 students in four school districts across Putnam County.
Flegal selects books for the program based on reading level and seasonal interest. At the end of each 30-minute reading session, students get to take home a copy of the book to add to their personal libraries.
The books come with teacher and reader guides, which include discussion questions to spark students’ curiosity through storytelling. The program prepares students for first grade and encourages families to read together, particularly men to read to their children, Flegal said.
More than 98 percent of preschool and kindergarten teachers are women, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Real Men Read aims to introduce children to male role models at a young age.
The program is part of United Way of Central Indiana’s ongoing work in early childhood education, a major focus of the nonprofit.
In 2012, United Way developed a 10-year plan geared toward making sure all children were prepared for kindergarten. United Way’s efforts in this area have focused on infrastructure, access, public policy, and expanding the quality and capacity of classrooms. The idea: Education can serve as a way out of poverty.
United Way of Central Indiana also runs ReadUP, a literacy program that sends volunteers into schools across the region weekly to help third graders who are behind on their reading skills.
Last year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, much of the Real Men Read program was done virtually. Students received copies of the books, and a videographer filmed mentors reading so students could watch the recordings on YouTube.
With mentors returning to the classroom this month, Flegal said he’s been getting emails from volunteers, teachers and principals: “People are so excited to have this back and to be in person again.”
Tischer has volunteered with the program since it began, reading in all three of his daughters’ kindergarten classrooms.
Tischer, pastor at Greencastle Christian Church, knows not all children get the encouragement and support they need to learn, and not all have positive role models. Reading to kindergarteners once a month offers a moment to make a small impact, he said.
Over time, those moments add up, Tischer said, and they “can change the direction of a life.”
For more information about United Way of Central Indiana’s work in early childhood education, visit uwci.org/family-opportunity.