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80,000 Silly Strings Cans En Route To Iraq
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Marcelle Shriver already
had the party favors -- about 80,000 cans of Silly String. Now, she finally has
cause to celebrate.
After months of frustration, Shriver
has finally found someone who will ship her Silly String to Iraq, where troops use the foamy substance
to detect trip wires on bombs.
"I am so happy right now, I am
shaking. I just think it's awesome that it's finally going," said Shriver,
whose son is a soldier in Iraq, as boxes were loaded into a truck
Monday afternoon. "I'm thrilled."
After an initial shipment went to Iraq in January without a hitch, Shriver
struggled to find a way to send thousands of cans she was still collecting. One
problem: Silly String is an aerosol and it's considered a hazardous material,
meaning only certain companies can ship it. She also encountered problems
sending more shipments through the military.
Thom Campbell, one of the founders
of Capacity LLC, a New Jersey-based shipping company experienced in hazardous
materials, heard about Shriver's struggles and decided to help out.
Shriver and Campbell communicated
for weeks over the telephone and e-mail but met for the first time Monday when
the boxes were picked up. Each praised the other for making the shipment a reality.
"The determination that she's
shown over a year ... deserves to be honored," Campbell said. "Mine is not a glamorous
industry nor is it the kind of industry you get a lot of opportunities to do something
like this so we were really lucky to ... help out."
Working with a company called Yellow
Transportation, almost all of boxes were picked up Monday in Deptford Township, outside Philadelphia where Shriver had been storing
them. The 24-foot truck could only fit 14 of the 16 pallets stacked with boxes
of Silly String; the rest will be picked up later.
The thousands of cans of Silly
String are boxed and addressed to individual servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq. The boxes will be taken to
Capacity LLC's storage facility in North Brunswick, inspected and then delivered to
the United States Postal Service for delivery with other letters and packages
bound for Iraq.
Shriver's Silly String campaign
began late last year after her son, Todd, a soldier in Ramadi slated to leave
Iraq in November, asked his parents to send cans of the product, which also is
sold under names such as "party string" or "crazy string."
The troops were using it to detect
trip wires on bombs. They can shoot the substance, which travels about 10-12
feet, across a room before entering. If it hangs in the air, that indicates a
possible trip wire.
After sending some cans to her son,
Marcelle Shriver decided to collect more for other troops. The campaign started
with a collection box at her church last year and quickly ballooned, as people
sent her donations of Silly String and money.
But after one shipment of about
40,000 cans went to Iraq, Shriver struggled to find someone
to ship the rest.
McGuire Air Force Base wouldn't take
it, citing Department of Defense regulations. And the Naval Air Station Joint
Reserve Base Willow Grove in Pennsylvania, which sent the first shipment,
didn't know when they'd have more flights headed to Iraq and didn't have space to store the
boxes.
Other private shippers volunteered
their services, but for a multitude of reasons, couldn't deliver.
Shriver, 58, said she's still
working with a local support group to gather supplies for the troops, but she's
focusing on items that are less complicated. Despite her frustrations, she said
the Silly String campaign was worth it.
"If this saves one life, I'm
happy," Shriver said.
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(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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