David Carrera has spent a lifetime volunteering to help the community. The Arizona native and Arizona State University grad began reaching out to others as far back as elementary and high school, something he says helped him make lots of friends along the way.
At ASU, where he majored in computer information systems, he was part of the Memorial Union activities board and was active in the Circle K International club, a service organization affiliated with Kiwanis International.
Somehow, he also managed to pack in time with the Hispanic Business Student Association as well as working on Neil Giuliano’s successful campaign for student body president.
Years later, that segued into working on Guiliano’s bid for a role in city leadership. Guiliano went on to become the 30th mayor of Tempe.
After his graduation from ASU, Carrera went to work for Motorola but also volunteered his time for the Make A Wish Foundation and the Hispanic Business Alumni.
During this time he was nominated for the National Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers award, and he and his wife were flown to Dallas for the awards banquet.
Although he didn’t win, he said just being nominated was a great honor.
After 25 years at Motorola, Carrera switched to General Dynamics where he and some of his co-workers volunteer to help out at the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon.
He’s volunteered quite a bit of time at St. Benedict Church, and 10 years ago joined the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic service organization.
As a member of the group, he helps out at the Fiesta Bowl Block Party and Tempe Tardeada.
David and his wife DeAnna have two daughters, both of whom are students at University of Arizona. Throughout their school years, David volunteered at Mariposa Elementary, working at school carnivals as well as in the classroom.
When the girls bumped up to Pueblo Middle School, he volunteered as a track coach and also spent several years coordinating the volunteers for the annual choir trip to California.
Even after his girls had moved on to high school, he was still helping to coordinate the Pueblo choir trips which included being at the school before dawn to load the buses for the road trip.
During his daughters’ high school years at Corona, Carrera helped lead the community choir and didn’t shy away from working numerous car washes with the pom line.
He also connected with other school fathers to help support the Corona dance program—all while simultaneously coordinating the “dance dads” at Tempe Dance Academy to help with set-up, props and the general running of the backstage during the Spirit of Christmas dance shows.
In 2012, David threw in his hat with the Tempe Sister Cities organization.
He started small, volunteering for one committee, gradually adding a few more. These days, he and his wife are the country coordinators for New Zealand as well as being in charge of the 2017 summer program.
In David’s spare time—though with all his community efforts, one wonders how much of that there could be—Carrera said he enjoys going to the gym.
Earlier in life, he was a runner, but his interests later veered toward weightlifting as a way to stay fit. With his wife’s encouragement, he found a trainer so that he could learn to lift properly.
It didn’t take long before he was hooked on bodybuilding. He’s been in competitions throughout the years but his most recent took place in 2014. In the Phoenix Europa, he placed first in both the masters and lightweight divisions.
That same year in the NPC Arizona Open he placed first in the masters and second in lightweight division.
