Video conferences allow military families to get in touch with loved

Benedictine University in Lisle purchased expensive distant-learning conferencing equipment about a year ago that allows it to share seminars with campuses in China, Springfield and other colleges in the area.

Now the university is offering use of its equipment to help families of military personnel keep in touch with their loved ones who are in harm's way.

"We decided to put it to good use," said Rudy Dardy, audio-visual coordinator at Benedictine. "We wanted to show support to families and service people in Iraq."

Benedictine has teamed with the Freedom Calls Foundation, a nonprofit organization, to offer free, half-hour video conferences Dec. 16 through 19 for the families of military personnel.

The members of the armed forces must be stationed in one of five locations in Iraq: Camp Taji, Al Asad Air Base, Camp Fallujah, Camp Victory (Baghdad) and Camp Taqaddum.

Immediate family members wishing to participate should contact Dardy at (630) 829-6692 by Dec. 8. They will need to give the name and e-mail address of their loved one in the military, the camp where they are stationed and their own name.

Freedom Calls will schedule a time for the conference and family members will be notified. The video conferences will be held in Kindlon Hall on the Benedictine campus, 5700 College Road, Lisle.

Dardy said Benedictine will continue to offer the video conferences after the holidays are over, too.

"We want to do it on an ongoing basis," he said.

For details on Freedom Calls Foundation, visit www.freedomcalls.org.