Volunteer Spotlight: Wally Sunderland

​In his roughly a decade volunteering at The Open Door, Wally Sunderland has consistently refined his strategy for working with clients (to say nothing of his quest for the perfect lasagna—more on that later).

“The approach that I try to use with some of the new clients [is] to be as respectful as I can be, I try to make it a little lighter.” He explains. On the phone, he tries to make the caller laugh. “I know that sounds a little goofy, but it really helps.”

Sunderland was previously a volunteer with Neighbors, Inc. in South St. Paul before joining the Open Door volunteer crew to be closer to his own community and explore the variety of positions available.

“I was started as a Greeter in the old days [when] we were still using a spreadsheet rather than the Link2Feed,” he recalls. He has volunteered in Client Support ever since.

“I was involved in the changeover from the handwritten sheets— we used to do all this appointment scheduling and everything by hand, and we switched to Link2Feed.” Link2Feed is a case management software for food banks and other social service agencies. The transition from paper required a great deal of data entry and Sunderland became familiar with the software.

“I thought well, I’ve got all this knowledge and may as well put it to use,” he said. That’s when he transitioned from the Greeter Desk to the Client Support Desk – a role he still fills several times a week.

“I really enjoy doing it. I really like interfacing with people, and I guess I like the idea … that I can help the people that are reaching out to us.”

In his free time, Wally enjoys model railroading and photography – one of his photographs was on display in the Fine Arts building at this year’s Minnesota State Fair– and cooking.

“Probably my favorite thing I cooked myself is my lasagna,” he says–with a salad and a good Chianti, of course.

“I have this recipe that just evolved over the years, and I was always tinkering with it and all of a sudden, my friends and my wife said ‘Stop, this is this is wonderful. We love it. Stop.’”

He did. He says the secret is fresh ingredients: sausage from Buon Giorno’s deli, and sheet pasta.

Wally lives in Eagan with his wife and has two adult sons in the area. Though he’s tried several volunteer gigs since retiring, serving within his own community is important to him.

“The minute I volunteer started volunteering here again, being back in my own community. It just felt right to me and the I think the longer that I’ve been here, the more important it is to me to do it,” he says. “It may sound strange, but I get a lot of positive feedback from doing this. … And the other thing is, and I’m very open about this too, is my faith commands me to do this.”​