When people call Solid Ground or walk into our Wallingford office seeking help, there’s a good chance the first face they see, or voice they hear, will be that of Andrea Mann.

Andrea volunteers her time nearly every week at our front desk, where she’s often the person people encounter when they come to Solid Ground for help with issues ranging from housing to public benefits. Working with our staff, it’s her job to listen carefully to everyone’s story to better connect them with the right programs or services to address their needs. 

“What you guys do is amazing. You care and it shows, so it makes me feel proud to be a part of the work.”

~Andrea Mann, volunteer

“She’s so kind. When she answers the phone, it’s like she has a bubble around her, and it’s just her and the person on the call,” says Shelby Lunderman, Solid Ground’s Administrative Services Supervisor. “I like to have new volunteers and new employees watch her on calls, because she has these beautiful metaphors and ways of explaining to people our systems – and human services in general – that are not dumbing it down but just putting it in everyday terms. And she doesn’t get off a call until she’s sure the person calling is able to understand not just what’s happening but why it’s happening.” 

As amazing as she is, Andrea is just one of the hundreds of volunteers who make Solid Ground’s work possible by generously sharing their time and skills to cook, tutor, weed, teach, mentor, clean, harvest, and so much more. Last year alone, more than 1,100 people volunteered nearly 23,000 hours of their time with Solid Ground, contributing nearly $1 million in work toward our vision of a future beyond poverty. 

Here are just a few current Solid Ground volunteer opportunities: 

Each volunteer comes to us for a different reason and with a different set of skills and interests. Andrea, a former project manager at Microsoft, started by helping our Rapid Rehousing team enter rental and payment information into a database so Solid Ground case managers can focus on helping families experiencing homelessness get into new homes and build more stability in their lives. 

When she answers the phone, it’s like she has a bubble around her, and it’s just her and the person on the call.”

~Shelby Lunderman, Administrative Services Supervisor

“Andrea’s meticulous with data and has done an amazing amount of cleanup in our electronic check files and case management database that we could never get to,” says Karen Ford, Solid Ground’s Housing Stabilization Manager. “She has just an incredible eye for data anomalies.” 

But Andrea wanted to make an even bigger impact, so when she heard that Solid Ground needed volunteers to support our front desk, she jumped at the opportunity. She said the work has given her a chance to learn more about how poverty works and the resources people need to move beyond it. And she said she appreciated that Solid Ground helped prepare her with trainings on topics like anti-racism and de-escalation.  

“Ultimately, the more I know, the more helpful I can be, because when people call, they don’t always know the right questions to ask in order to get access to what they need,” she says. “That’s why I’m enjoying all this training, so I can ask the right questions.” She says she also gets plenty of support from Solid Ground staff, which she appreciates.  

“It’s nice to know that when somebody calls, I never have to give them a half answer.”

~Andrea Mann, volunteer

“Everyone who works here has been amazing, because I have questions all the time, and people are so generous with their time and explain to me how things work. If I get a call and it’s particularly complicated – which it often is – there’s always someone else who can step in to support the caller,” Andrea says. “It’s nice to know that when somebody calls, I never have to give them a half answer.” 

Andrea says answering the calls has also given her a new window into the scale of need in our community. And when she’s entering rental data in the database, she gets to see the concrete way Solid Ground is filling some of that need. 

“I really appreciated that Solid Ground looks at poverty as a system of interconnecting issues,” Andrea says. “You don’t focus on one aspect of poverty – you see that it’s a bunch of things interrelated to each other.” 

“What you guys do is amazing,” she says. “You care and it shows, so it makes me feel proud to be a part of the work.” 

Want to share your time and skills with the Solid Ground community? Volunteer with us!