Volunteer Spotlight: Gail Dufresne

By Luke Shannon

The male bags are ‘tailed,’ while the female bags are ‘rolled up.’

After five years of volunteering at Project Chimps, Gail Dufresne, 71, has plenty of tricks like this one she learned from caregiver Tawnya Williams for the paper bags of ‘chow’ she helps distribute.

A binder full of notes gives Dufresne insight into the state of each chimp, and even allows her to differentiate between twins Buttercup (freckle on her right cheek) and Charisse (under her nose.)

Gail’s Background

Gail and her ‘high school sweetheart,’ Joe, have been married for 50 years and have four children and four grandchildren. They have each become critical pieces of the Project Chimps mission over the last several years. Joe Dufresne, DDS, volunteers for any dental work the 81 chimps may need and assists in maintenance around campus at other times. Gail, who comes in weekly, is assigned to whichever area of the non-profit she is needed in that day.

However, Project Chimps is not the only way in which Gail has provided service to her community. In conjunction with her husband’s career as a dentist, Gail dressed in a white ballet outfit and wings as the ‘Tooth Fairy’ for the Georgia Dental Association, visiting hospitals and schools and promoting dental health before moving to the Blue Ridge Mountains. She continues to volunteer weekly at the Fannin County Food Bank, delivering meals to school children who have nothing to eat when school is not in session through the “Snack in a Backpack” program.

Additionally, before joining Project Chimps in 2017, Gail was a substitute teacher at Woodward Academy in Atlanta for 10 years. While she said her chemistry degree was not often used in the raising of four children, she became a certified Master Gardener with the University of Georgia in 2004. This gave her the expertise to establish the nature trail and a system of plant identification at the primate sanctuary.

An Opportunity to Help

So, aside from an obvious affinity for helping others, what drew her to Project Chimps? A special ability to connect with those who call it home.

“I believe I see ‘Thanks’ in the big brown eyes of my chimp friends,” Gail said.

The Mission of Project Chimps

Gail spent her first few years preparing food in the kitchen but accepted a promotion to have closer interactions with the chimps. Now, she assists in feeding breakfast and lunch to the grateful primates and cleans vacated areas when they leave to roam the sanctuary.

“If there is one word that is most important here, it is ‘choice.’ The chimps never are forced or prodded to do anything,” Gail Dufresne says. “Sometimes, it may be easier to clean areas if we know the chimps will not return, but we never make them do anything- we may just encourage them with food.”

Gail understands the purpose of each activity the full-time employees are doing. She patiently explains how chimps are conditioned to receive COVID-19 vaccinations though the usage of ‘dummy syringes.’ She takes pride in the success of the vaccination program so far.

Connecting with Chimps

While the staff members perform tasks like this and other enrichment activities, usually with only one specified group, Gail bounces around from week to week, forming relationships with every chimpanzee on Project Chimps’ campus.

“It’s not the most glamorous job,” she said, “but someone has to do it.”

‘Very Human’

When staff members request she hang up blankets in one chimpanzee habitat, Gail gladly searches for the biggest, most comfortable ones she can find. She knows how important this is to her fellow sapiens.

“All of them, male and female, like to build nests at night to sleep in with the blankets,” Gail said, “They are very human in so many ways.”

And that they are. Chimps sway back and forth when they see food brought out as if dancing. They are able to solve ‘enrichment’ puzzles, which Gail and staff members set up for them to keep their brains sharp and provide lunch.

Enrichment

Enrichment can take any form from putting peanut butter in a difficult to reach spot in a container behind a fence, to spreading desirable produce around the sanctuary for chimps to forage as if they were in their natural habitat.

“These chimps went through so much in their years of medical research and have never gotten to live in their natural habitat,” Gail said. “We are trying to give them the closest thing to that experience.”

Volunteer Journey

A volunteer since very near the foundation of the organization itself, Gail has been with Project Chimps throughout plenty of ups and downs.

“I’ve watched it grow and prosper despite setbacks and it’s a real joy to have been part of it,” she said.

Gail and Joe Dufresne are not in every day, but their volunteering makes a difference in the lives of 81 chimps every time they come in. You, too, can volunteer with Project Chimps, by submitting a volunteer application on the website, or by sending an email to volunteer@projectchimps.org.