Red Cross deploys local woman to Iraq

A longtime Red Cross worker from Culpeper has been deployed to Iraq in support of the troops.

Felecia Chavez, former American Red Cross outreach coordinator for Culpeper and Madison counties, will serve four months at Balad Air Force Base north of Baghdad.

She has more than 25 years experience working for the Red Cross in the U.S. and overseas, according to Chavez’s husband, Keith Price, a Gulf War veteran. In 1990, Chavez deployed to Saudi Arabia for the Red Cross with the 82nd Airborne Division as part of Operation Desert Shield. A native of Boulder, Colo., Chavez and her husband moved to Culpeper about six years ago.

Beverly Bean, director of public support for the aid organization, said the Red Cross provides “invaluable services” for American troops, including emergency communications and boosting morale.

“We are that link to home for the soldiers,” she said.