Adrian Northrup

Last fall, a woman named Marcelle Shriver of New Jersey was talking with her son, Spc. Todd Shriver, who is serving in the Army in Iraq. When asked if there was anything he needed, he had a bit of an odd request: “Silly String.”

With soldiers serving in Iraq, it is the innovation of the troops that sometimes saves lives more effectively than any high-tech, multimillion-dollar equipment. From bolting pieces of scrap metal to the outside of their Humvees for added protection to putting up old bullet-proof windshields around gunners in the turrets of vehicles; from using tampons to plug bullet holes in the wounded until they can be moved to safety and be patched up to something as simple as Silly String. U.S. soldiers show their ingenuity in their ability to adapt to their surroundings and use everyday materials to help make them safer.

Using the Silly String is really quite simple; when entering a room of a structure, a soldier will stand back about 10 to 12 feet and spray the Silly String into the room. If the Silly String falls to the floor there are no trip wires; if it hangs up seemingly in mid-air, then there is most likely a trap set for them. The Silly String easily points out the trip wires without actually tripping them. This is much better than other methods such as just moving slowly and being careful, or using metal hooks to “feel” the almost invisible trip wires.

After hearing her son’s request for Silly String, Shriver started taking donations from her church parishioners and her community. As of this past December, her one-stall garage contained over 1,000 cans of Silly String, and donations are still coming in. Silly String itself does not cost very much money to buy; however, the cost of getting it to Iraq is immense.

Silly String is considered a hazardous material and thus can’t be shipped via a normal method, such as UPS or FedEx. However, upon hearing about Shriver, a man donated his plane to fly all of the Silly String to Kuwait where it will be taken by truck to Iraq.

So, you may be wondering, “How can I help?”

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 24 and 25, there will be a table on the Campus Mall where we will be accepting donations of money to help offset the costs that Marcelle Shriver has incurred. There will be free cookies for anybody who donates and also a large “Thank You” note everyone may sign that will be sent to the troops.

The College Republicans have vowed to match any donations up to $100, so please come out and help. Just toss in your pocket change on your way to or from class, have a cookie, and sign the “Thank You” note. This is something small and simple that we can do as a campus and it may help save the lives of our soldiers serving in Iraq.

Haasl is a senior vice chairman of the College Republicans and a guest columnist for The Spectator.