By KEVIN COUTURE

Contributing Writer

PLATTSBURGH — For Jeanie Roberts, executive director of the North Country Chapter of the American Red Cross, no two work days are ever the same.

The national Red Cross was formed by Clara Barton with two mandates: that it be an armed-forces emergency-contact service and that it aid in disaster recovery.

Locally, a total of 3,439 square miles and 150,000 people are served — and that keeps Roberts and the Red Cross staff and volunteers very busy.

LINK TO SOLDIERS

“We are a conduit between the families here in the North Country and their loved ones who are serving in the military somewhere in the world,” Roberts said.

Being the only organization that can get messages to soldiers anywhere isn’t taken lightly.

Volunteers from the Red Cross go with soldiers to war to assure that the communication line with the home front doesn’t get broken.

The volunteers often do clerical work or other such jobs.

“We are a verification and message-sending program,” Roberts explained. “We have peace workers, and when there is an emergency in the family, they contact us, the Red Cross, and we verify the emergency situation.”

She said that sometimes it is a joyous message, such as the birth of a child. Other times, it may be sad, like word of a death of a family member.