Deena Y. Gerber is the Executive Director of Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans. Jewish Family Service is a social service agency that reaches out to people of all ages and faiths in the New Orleans area, providing mental health counseling, case management, educational programs and in-home services for older adults. Deena has served as director since 1994. Less than two weeks after Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee failures that devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area, Jewish Family Service established emergency offices in Baton Rouge and Mandeville, Louisiana and was one of the first social service agencies to re-open its New Orleans area offices. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and resultant flooding, Jewish Family Service reorganized and reprioritized in order to provide financial assistance, trauma counseling and crisis management to thousands of people affected by this tragedy. In 2009, Jewish Family Service conducted a comprehensive study, funded by the Administration on Aging, on the psychological effects of Hurricane Katrina on older adults. Jewish Family Service continues to provide needed social services in the greater New Orleans area.