CHAMPAIGN — Robert Crossman headed for Memphis on Monday, making his 25th trip as a disaster-relief volunteer for the American Red Cross.

Crossman, who lives in Champaign, said he expects to work in a flood-relief shelter during his three-week assignment.

But he knows from experience that work assigned isn't always the work that gets done.

"Most Red Cross people are pretty versatile," he said. "Wherever there's a job to be done, all of us are willing to do it."

Crossman, a Red Cross volunteer since 1998, has been called to help after floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, forest fires and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York.

But this time, the Red Cross had to wait a couple days for him. That's because Crossman — who retired from a full-time job in 1991 — works three part-time jobs and needed to handle a couple heavy-duty events over the weekend.

The Red Cross asked if he could leave Friday. But as an employee at Memorial Stadium, he felt compelled to work the Centennial High School prom, held Saturday night at the stadium's Colonnade Club.

Then, as supervisor of ushers at Assembly Hall, he thought he should stick around for the Rise Against rock concert on Sunday night.

Both events kept him up late, but he was ready to fly to Memphis on Monday.

Crossman said he wanted to become a disaster-relief volunteer after tornadoes struck Urbana and Ogden in 1996. But he realized he couldn't do it on his own.

"You can't just walk up to a place and start to do disaster work. You'd get kicked out," he said. "You have to be part of an organization."

So when he saw a local couple was volunteering for the Red Cross, he decided to follow their lead.

His first assignment, in 1998, was going to Austin, Texas, where he delivered goods to flood-stricken areas around Victoria and Cuero.

His hardest assignment? Being dispatched to a kitchen in Vero Beach, Fla., where he was in charge of distributing food and made sure emergency response vehicles were loaded.

The difficulty stemmed from his accommodations being 120 miles away, in Pompano Beach, Fla. In addition to his 8 a.m.-to-8 p.m. shift, he had to tack on a two-hour commute in the morning and at night.

Perhaps Crossman's most emotional assignments were in New York, following the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Choking up as he recalled those, he said he got "a real good feeling" from that experience.

Crossman said he won't work directly with flood victims in Memphis — that's the job of caseworkers. But he'll likely be involved in the logistics of operating the shelters.

"It's almost like running a motel," he said. "You have to obtain the food, cook it, serve it, clean the floors."

Jamie Davis, emergency services coordinator for the Red Cross' Central Illinois Chapter, said the record number of deployments for a local chapter volunteer is 53. But she said Crossman's record is "pretty good."

"Obviously, it takes many years of service" to go on that many trips, she said.

Altogether, the chapter has a pool of about 50 emergency-response volunteers from Champaign, Douglas, Piatt and Vermilion counties, she said.

Among them are Kay and Harold Lieb of Monticello, who were also dispatched to Memphis, according to a Red Cross news release.

Crossman retired 20 years ago from Quantum Chemical in Tuscola, where he worked in human resources.

At the time, he was in his mid-50s and intended to work part-time only at the Assembly Hall and Memorial Stadium.

But in summer, when activity died down, he became bored and began working on a hot-air balloon crew. He also began building wheelchair ramps in league with the local AMBUCS chapter.

Health concerns kept him away from Red Cross deployments the last couple years. But now he's back in shape and raring to go.

Going to Memphis means Crossman will have to miss work as a courier and shuttle driver for Worden-Martin. But he'll forego that because he considers volunteering for the Red Cross to be "my charitable work."

"A lot of people don't realize the feeling you get when you go out and help people," Crossman said. "Hopefully someone will see this and, instead of sitting at home wishing they could do something, use this as an incentive (to volunteer)."