HANCOCK – Nine.

The large, red number shone steadily on Marcia Slater’s answering machine.

Each message, one to nine, contains words of love from her “guys” and are stored, not for a rainy day, but for a lonely one.

“Sometimes I go back and listen to the messages. It’s just so nice to hear their voices,” Slater, 46, of Hancock said last week at her home while pointing to the illuminated machine.

Slater’s “guys” are thousands of miles away in Iraq, each in a different unit of the Maine Army National Guard, and both father and son recognize the value of a phone call. Slater’s husband, Ferdinand “Andy” Slater, was asked to join the 43rd Military Police Brigade of Rhode Island as a judge advocate and was deployed in August, while their son, Joshua Slater, 22, left in March for his second stint overseas with the 172nd Mountain Infantry of Brewer.

“It’s extremely difficult not hearing from them, and it creates a lot of stress and anxiety,” Slater said.

For many families of deployed soldiers, frequent communication is the key to peace of mind. Communication between soldiers and families has evolved tremendously from the letter-writing days of World War II, which often left anxious family members on edge for months before word from loved ones.

Using the Internet, e-mail, instant messaging, scanners, Web cameras and digital photography can help connect people like the Slaters throughout the world. Unfortunately, not every family can afford to equip their homes with the latest technology.

Before a few weeks ago, Slater didn’t have a computer at home. Once a week, she would run errands in town and wait in line at the Ellsworth Public Library to spend a half-hour reading and writing e-mails to her husband and oldest son.

That all has changed.

Slater now checks her e-mail three times a day using the computer given to her through the partnership between the Malcolm Glidden American Legion Post 163 of Palermo and the Palermo Community Foundation.

“Because of the generosity of so many people, I now have a computer here at home to use, and we’re so grateful to each and every one of the people involved in the effort,” Slater said, choking back tears.

World War II veteran John Potter, 81, of Palermo began the “charitable giving of computers,” as he calls it, through the combined efforts of the two organizations in 1990. Since that time, the program has given away an average of 100 computers a year to middle school, high school and college students, the disabled, senior citizens, and National Guard families trying to communicate with their loved ones overseas.

The inspiration for distributing more than 1,600 computers throughout the state sprouted from the positive effect one computer had on the Potter family almost 16 years ago.

At the age of 36, Potter’s son, John Potter III, realized he struggled with dyslexia. Using the computer, however, helped him go back to college and graduate with honors.

“I got into doing this because my son is dyslexic and I saw how a computer helped him,” Potter said.

“We found a need and realized we could make a difference in people’s lives, especially in rural Maine,” the veteran explained. “Maine is not a rich state, and we’re answering the needs of citizens, students and families, and if the computers enable them to get better educated, then we’re providing a great service.”

Several large companies, including Hannaford Bros., MBNA America and Waldo County General Hospital, have given the program their old office computers, which then are refurbished by either company technicians or inmates at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

Once the computers are refurbished, they are taken to James Osier of Augusta, a veteran who makes sure the computers are formatted and ready to go online. The computers then are distributed by Potter, or, in the case of the Maine Army National Guard, they are delivered to Camp Keyes in Augusta, where the Family Assistance Center arranges for the chosen families to pick them up.

“The computers bridge a huge gap, and a quick e-mail that says, ‘I’m fine’ or ‘Thinking of you today,’ is huge in the life of a Guard family,” Sgt. 1st Class Barbara Claudel, family program director for the Maine Army National Guard family assistance program, said recently.

The computer program not only has benefited the recipients, but also has positively affected those responsible for making the project run.

Inmates in the computer-refurbishing program at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham learn a trade while incarcerated, which has helped many of them get their lives on track.

“I usually get a phone call on a weekly basis from someone who graduated from my program just to update me on their lives,” Darrell Lee, vocation trade instructor at the Maine Correctional Center, said.

“The program is really a win-win situation for everyone. By going through the course, they [the inmates] learn life skills and how to be a better worker,” Lee said, pointing out that of the 100 inmates who have graduated from his computer refurbishing program, he knows of only one who has offended again.

The Waldo County General Hospital administration replaces 60-70 computers a year, and nearly 75 percent of them find their way to the computer program.

“I think it’s a wonderful endeavor he [Potter] has taken on, and we’re pleased to support these efforts,” Mark Biscone, executive director of Waldo County General Hospital, said recently. “Whether it’s a student going on to school or a National Guard family recipient, it’s a worthy cause.”

Although computers are a fast and reliable communication resource for families separated by the war, when a soldier doesn’t immediately respond to an e-mail, it can cause a lot of anxiety for the family members left behind.

“Some people expect to hear from [their soldiers] every day to make sure they’re fine, but sometimes our systems [overseas] go up and down, which can cause stress,” Claudel said.

Slater said she tries to remain patient and understanding of her husband’s and son’s schedules. Although not receiving an e-mail from them is difficult, she prefers the more frequent contact that the computer provides, rather than relying on the telephone.

Slater said her computer helps her check on her soldiers’ well-being, but she admits her younger son, Casey, 12, may benefit from the technology more than she does.

Casey frequently teaches his mother how to navigate the computer, and after receiving their home computer, he has expressed interest in attending the University of Maine in Orono to study computer technology “when he grows up,” Slater said.

“Casey also likes to e-mail because it eases the communication lines between him and his brother and father,” Slater said.

“It’s not intrusive like the phone, and he’s able to ask questions of Andy and Josh that he may not have asked over the phone.”

Slater said she wonders what the maximum memory is on her telephone answering machine, afraid one day she may miss a message from her “guys” if it is full.

E-mail, however, has a larger capacity.

Slater’s e-mail account now holds at least 40 messages from her husband and son. When she receives a printer, she plans on creating a scrapbook of their communication.

The wife and mother is determined to savor every word from her soldiers away.

“Those messages will stay in [the inbox] for eternity until they get back,” she said.