Gail Friesema ’61 Farnham

Gail Friesema ’61 Farnham of Ithaca, New York, attended the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance annual meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, in April. Members of the volunteer National Response Team and National Volunteer Team gathered to expand the teams’ knowledge of disaster ministries and response. She started volunteering in 2005 with hurricane Katrina recovery with her local presbytery work team, wearing a tool belt and doing dry wall/roofing. In 2007, she became a member of the National Response Team of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and now travels with laptop and clipboard. She reports that her son made her promise not to go up on roofs after she turned 70. PDA members receive training throughout the year in areas such as natural and human-caused disasters, emotional and spiritual care, church damage post-disaster volunteer workforce housing, long-term community rebuilding, and refugee/immigration in disaster response.