Published: September 30, 2009 08:39 pm      

Red Cross worker headed to Kuwait

By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — A local American Red Cross employee will be heading overseas this month as a caseworker for the military.

Peggy Irvin, program coordinator with the American Red Cross Mid Southern Illinois Chapter, was notified June 1 that she was accepted into the ARC’s Service to the Armed Forces Division in Kuwait. She will be leaving Oct. 11 for Washington, D.C., to attend three weeks of training for the SAF. Irvin will be stationed in Kuwait until March 2, 2010.

“I’ll be assisting the station manager for the Red Cross at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait,” she said. “Mostly I’ll be a caseworker and assist the military. So if there was a family emergency here at home, my job would be to pave the way for (the soldier) to get home.”

Irvin became a volunteer with the ARC in 2005, and in 2006 was hired full-time as the program coordinator. Cindy May, former director of the ARC Mid Southern Illinois Chapter and now the Associate Donor Recruitment Representative, said Irvin is very knowledgeable on what the ARC is about.

“This Red Cross family has been very intimate since Peggy came onboard,” May said. “She brought a sense of knowledge — on when disasters occur and how to communicate with the public. She is a tremendous asset and we’re going to miss her.”

“I’m very excited. It’s hard to believe it’s finally here. Now my objective is to see how little I can put in a suitcase for about four to five months,” she joked.

Irvin has assisted with almost a dozen disasters locally and nationally, including the 2006 summer storm which hit Jefferson County, and also traveled to help refugees displaced by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana.

“I admire and commend her for taking on this challenge and traveling so far away for such a short period of time,” May said. “She’s going to take with her all aspects of the Red Cross.”

“I love to travel and love a challenge,” Irvin said. “And this will certainly be a challenge. I hardly know what to expect.”

Irvin was presented with a certificate of appreciation for her work with the ARC by the local Mid Southern Illinois Chapter on Wednesday afternoon.