And when the disaster displaces residents - at any time of day or night - the first responders call borough resident Terri Esposito.

Esposito has been a volunteer with the Tri-County Red Cross, which covers Union, Somerset and Middlesex counties - for seven years. Late last month, she was named the organization's 2008 Volunteer of the Year.

"The truth is, without Terri we would not have the robust disaster-response capabilities that responded to more than 60 house fires and floods this year," said Nathan Rudy, chief executive officer of the Tri-County Red Cross. "Terri's enthusiasm, wit and incredible willingness to work all hours of the day for people she's never met are amazing."

Esposito has been involved in relief efforts in numerous disasters, including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina.

She also responds to local disasters. In the fiscal year that just ended, Esposito responded to more than 20 house fires, aiding the displaced victims by arranging hotels, food and clothing for them.

In fact, when the business day ends, Esposito becomes the initial contact person when someone in the three counties needs assistance.

"I'm on call every day," she said. "You get calls at 4 or 5 in the morning."

Often times, Esposito said she handles calls by herself, not wanting the disturb the Red Cross volunteers who have paid full-time jobs.

"I can't see waking those guys up at 3 o'clock in the morning," she said.

Esposito's volunteer work has turned into a full-time job. She retired five years ago when the company she worked for relocated to Pennsylvania. Since then, she's been spending almost all of her time with the Red Cross of with the borough's Community Emergency Response Team, another volunteer organization.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, Esposito served three three-week tours in Louisiana and Alabama. There she was a jack of all trades, scouting out community needs, feeding the hungry and driving Red Cross Emergency Response Vehicles. Esposito firmly believes in getting all the training she can. She's got a wallet full of certification cards to prove it.

"Maybe I don't know how to say no," she joked.

It's that sense of humor - and her spunk and enthusiasm - that deliver the biggest smiles and the most gratitude, she said. During the Hurricane Katrina relief effort, she was recognized as the American Red Cross' Volunteer of the Day after officials spotted her joking with shelter residents.

Esposito attributes her energy to her mother, a bookkeeper in Brooklyn who raised Esposito alone after her father died in the early 1950s.

"She told me try not to depend on a man too much," Esposito said. "She taught me to be on my own."

Esposito hasn't been on her own, though. She's been married to her husband Carl for 42 years. He lets her do all the volunteer work she wants, she said.

"Thank God I got the man I got," she said.

Asked what she gets out of all her volunteer work, Esposito deferred to a joke, then said she volunteers because she truly feels better when she does.

"Maybe God will be good to me and I'll go up there," she said, pointing upward. "No I feel great, I really do."

Jared Kaltwasser can be reached at 908-707-3137 or jkaltwasser@mycentraljersey.com.