Alyson Herdeman Has Spent Her Career Helping Improve the Lives of Low-Income Residents
50 Faces. 50 Stories. 50 Years of Fighting Hunger.
Hunger Task Force is proud to be Milwaukee’s only Free & Local food bank and Wisconsin’s anti-hunger leader. In celebration of our 50th Anniversary, Hunger Task Force is highlighting “50 Faces of Ending Hunger,” honoring the anti-hunger heroes who champion Free & Local and support our mission to end hunger.
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Alyson Herdeman, chief of staff at Hunger Task Force, has spent 13 years at the organization working to ensure our operations run efficiently – from office coordination and staff management to fulfilling accounting needs.
Alyson joined the Hunger Task Force team as Executive Assistant in 2011 after working for the United States Senate for nearly six years serving as an assistant and caseworker for a United States Senator.
Alyson managed special projects and events under former CEO Sherrie Tussler’s leadership. As executive assistant, the “other duties as assigned” in her job description was the most significant responsibility Allyson had in her former role. As Executive Assistant, she also was the assistant to the Controller and helped manage accounts payable and payroll among other accounting functions.
Since Alyson joined the team, she has assumed roles of increasing responsibility from executive administration manager to executive services manager and now she holds the role of chief of staff.
“While my job is very administrative in nature, I know that my day-to-day responsibilities ensure this organization runs successfully and, as a result, people in need have access to healthy food,” adds Alyson. “Everyone here knows that this the heart of all our jobs. For me, the most fulfilling parts of working here are those times when we really just get it done.”
Early in her career, all available office and warehouse staff reported to a dairy company that was going out of business to pick up unexpired product to distribute to the network of food pantries, meal sites and homeless shelters. Staff moved crate after crate of cottage cheese, milk, sour cream and other dairy products to the trucks really quickly to ensure everyone made it back for a press conference for a food drive in partnership with local fire departments. After, some team members, including Alyson, attended a Finance Committee meeting to review the previous year’s audit and the current financial statements before presenting to the Hunger Task Force Board of Directors the next week.
“I was so exhausted after the physical and mental stretch of that day – jumping from one thing to the other – but so incredibly proud to have the opportunity to work somewhere with so many people who really care about doing the best they can for their community and all the different ways that they make it happen,” notes Alyson.
From South Milwaukee, Alyson has lived in Milwaukee County most of her life. With her strong community ties, Alyson has been able to connect local organizations with healthy food to feed people in need and has helped foster connections for local organizations that have experienced a lapse in food assistance to receive free food to feed local children, families and seniors.
Hunger Task Force has grown considerably since 2011. When Alyson first joined the team the staff total was 44. Today, there are 67 team members at Hunger Task Force. Because of the size of the organization, Alyson has gotten to foster relationships with many team members, and she loves that she still is able to sometimes help organize and run events.
Meet the 50 Faces of Ending Hunger!
Click below to discover real people making a difference in the fight against hunger – new faces added each month! As we journey through our 50th year, keep checking back to meet more incredible individuals making a difference.