Jennifer Mauro is a Red Crosser here in North Texas. Her journey to get here has taken her around the world, helping people all along the way. Her commitment to service was instilled by her family at a young age and fueled by her passion for humanitarian work. Her great-grandmother was a Red Cross nurse during World War II, and her grandfather performed morale concerts for troops overseas.

Growing up around her great-grandmother, Mauro was always familiar with the Red Cross and the importance of helping others. Her first personal connection to international service came in high school when she traveled to India as part of the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Abroad program, serving as a youth ambassador for the U.S. State Department. Later, in college, she had her first Red Cross experience when she completed a training as part of her nursing program.

Mauro earned a nursing degree from the University of Memphis and later worked as an NHS emergency registered nurse in Cambridge, England. While pursuing her master’s degree in Germany, she visited the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters, deepening her passion for humanitarian work.

After earning a Master's in global urban health from the University of Freiburg, Mauro returned to the U.S. and worked for the AmeriCorps Rural Health Network in New York and Illinois. In early 2022, Mauro applied as a reservist to the ARC Service to the Armed Forces, not knowing that a conflict in Ukraine would start about a month later.

From October 2022 to March 2023, she was deployed to Lithuania, living in shipping containers and tents on a forward-operating base. Mauro worked with the Red Cross Hero Care Network, relaying emergency messages between soldiers and their families, including birth announcements, illness updates, and casualty notifications.

She also collaborated with the United Service Organizations (USO), Chaplain, Battalion Command and Military & Family Life Counseling to boost soldier morale by providing small comforts like snacks, toiletries, and holiday celebrations.

“When you’re deployed, the little things matter,” Mauro said. “Bringing peanut butter and jelly or hot sauce to the food tent makes a difference.”

Per tradition, Mauro’s mother’s church group knitted hats and scarves for the troops, coordinating with the Red Cross and chaplains. Mauro also recruited volunteers to support the mission while balancing her regular duties.

“You don’t know what it’s like until you’re on the ground,” she said. “Then you have a glimpse.”

In April 2023, Mauro brought her servant's heart to North Texas, becoming regional program manager for Service to the Armed Forces/International Services with the Red Cross North Texas Region.

To learn more about the Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces/International Services, visit redcross.org/saf.

When you donate to the 11th annual American Red Cross Giving Day on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, you help provide services like those Mauro delivered to support active-duty service members, veterans and their families. Giving Day takes place each March during Red Cross Month.