News release Public Information Office  SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu Spring 2004 news releases Public Information home News archive Contact: Rene Abadie Date: 3/18/05   PRESENTATION ON AMERICAN PRESENCE IN IRAQ BY INITIATOR OF SOCK & SHOE DRIVE SCHEDULED AT SOUTHEASTERN      HAMMOND --  A presentation on the American military presence in Iraq by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Ben Necaise of St. Francisville, the individual who initiated a regional drive for socks and shoes for Iraqi children, will be held at Southeastern Louisiana University at 5 p.m. Wednesday (March 23).      Necaise will make the presentation at in the Student Union Theatre at a meeting of Southeastern’s service and honor organization Gamma Beta Phi. The presentation is open to the general public.      A member of Bravo Company of the Army National Guard’s 1088th Engineer Battalion, 256th Brigade Combat Team, Necaise is currently on a two-week leave. He made headlines last month when a drive he initiated to collect socks and shoes for children in Iraq became a regional cause. Thousands of items were collected at Southeastern and its regional centers in St. Tammany Parish and Baton Rouge.       Necaise is an alumnus of Southeastern and Gamma Beta Phi. His wife Ashley and mother-in-law Linda Ryan, a horticulture instructor at Southeastern, contacted friends at Southeastern and the drive took a life of its own. In addition to the socks and shoes, cash donations of more than $1,500 were collected and dedicated to paying postal charges to ship the items.      “Ben is thrilled with the overwhelming response to his initiative said Jackie Dale Thomas, Gamma Beta Phi co-advisor. We’ve sent some initial shipments to Iraq, but we still have a lot of packing to do. We do have a need, however, for additional funds to pay the shipping charges.”      Donations can be sent to Gamma Beta Phi, SLU Box 10414, Hammond, LA 70402.