Untamed
12-05-2006, 08:18 AM
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It's getting hard to believe this whole thing with Marcelle Shriver's collection campaign began with just one phone call.
It was a conversation with her son, Todd, a soldier in Iraq. Ever the obliging mother, Marcelle was asking Todd whether he needed anything specific in his care package. His answer surprised her:
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"Mom, I could use a couple cans of Silly String."
Yes, the brightly colored plastic goo that comes shooting out of pressurized cans in long strands.
Todd, 28, has been in the Army two years but is new to Iraq, having just landed in violence-stained Ramadi with the Army's 9th Engineer Battalion. And he quickly learned from some Marines that a $2 can of Silly String can save lives.
It turns out Silly String is a great way to find the micro-thin tripwires that set off improvised explosive devices, a constant killer in Iraq.
Todd explained to his mother how soldiers go building to building, spraying the stuff before entering rooms. If the Silly String falls to the ground, the coast is clear. If the Silly String catches on something, there's trouble
"It blew my mind something so simple could help save soldier's lives," Marcelle said.
Marcelle packed a few cans into Todd's care package and shipped it off to him about a month ago. But then this mother from Stratford in Camden County got to thinking: If Silly String could help save her son's life, it could help save other mothers' sons as well.
So she asked her pastor, the Rev. Joseph Capella of St. Luke's Catholic Church in Stratford, if the church could start a collection drive.
"When she first came and said she wanted to collect Silly String for Todd, I laughed," Capella said. "Then she told me what it was used for and I said, 'Absolutely.'"
Marcelle wasn't usually one of the women at the church with time to organize things -- she's an office manager for a podiatrist and delights in baby-sitting her 3-year-old grandson, Todd's nephew -- but she got busy.
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She put an item in the church bulletin at St. Luke's and at Lady of Grace Church in nearby Somerdale. She decorated collection baskets with American flags and set them in the back of the church. She encouraged her fellow parishioners to donate cans.
And then -- the dot-com crowd would call it viral marketing, though Father Capella thinks God might have something to do with it -- word started to spread about the mother who had this novel little way to protect soldiers.
Someone sent the church bulletin to KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia, which did a segment about the effort. A Time magazine reporter happened to hear the radio broadcast and put in a small item about it. Next, a local ABC affiliate heard about it and did a story.
"It just seems like it's snowballing," Marcelle said.
Because as more people hear about what she's doing, more cans of Silly String come in. At first, the cans fit in her utility room. When there got to be about 400 of them, she had her husband, Ron, Todd's father, move them out to the garage.
Now, as it appears the garage may run out of room, the owner of a local storage facility has offered free space should she need it.
"For people who want to do something to help the troops but aren't sure what to do, it's a great little thing they can do," Marcelle said. "It's something inexpensive that everyone can help with -- school kids, Scout troops, churches. We're happy to take donations from anyone."
The Army won't say whether it is planning to add Silly String to its standard equipment issue -- it doesn't want to tip off the enemy about what countermeasures it uses -- but it encourages soldiers to do whatever they can to maximize their safety, whether it's packing Silly String or welding body armor onto their trucks.
"Soldiers in the field improvise all the time," said Maj. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman. "That's just good soldiering."
In the meantime, Marcelle is planning to ship Silly String to as many soldiers as she can find.
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One hurdle is getting the cans to Iraq. It turns out that because Silly String cans are pressurized, they're considered hazardous material. The Postal Service won't ship them air mail, and surface mail can take three months.
But Marcelle has had a little magic on that front as well. A pilot in a private air freight company heard about her effort and has offered her free shipping. It just seems like every obstacle has quickly been batted down and, well, Father Capella can't help but seeing God at work again.
"So much of the time, we wait for God to come to us in some huge way," he said. "But God comes to us in very ordinary ways, too -- sometimes as ordinary as a can of Silly String."
It's something Marcelle said she enjoys organizing, partly because it makes her feel like she's doing something to help, partly because it takes a worried mother's mind off less-pleasant thoughts.
Ron has gotten a kick out of it, too. He's a Vietnam veteran and a proud dad who is touched by the generosity of strangers.
As for Todd, he's a bit hard to get hold of at times. But if you visit his MySpace page, you get an idea what he might think about this whole Silly String thing.
In his personal information section, in the part that asks him to list his "goal for this year," his response is to the point: "To stay alive for another one."
Brad Parks may be reached at (973) 392-7961 or bparks@starledger.com.
It's getting hard to believe this whole thing with Marcelle Shriver's collection campaign began with just one phone call.
It was a conversation with her son, Todd, a soldier in Iraq. Ever the obliging mother, Marcelle was asking Todd whether he needed anything specific in his care package. His answer surprised her:
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"Mom, I could use a couple cans of Silly String."
Yes, the brightly colored plastic goo that comes shooting out of pressurized cans in long strands.
Todd, 28, has been in the Army two years but is new to Iraq, having just landed in violence-stained Ramadi with the Army's 9th Engineer Battalion. And he quickly learned from some Marines that a $2 can of Silly String can save lives.
It turns out Silly String is a great way to find the micro-thin tripwires that set off improvised explosive devices, a constant killer in Iraq.
Todd explained to his mother how soldiers go building to building, spraying the stuff before entering rooms. If the Silly String falls to the ground, the coast is clear. If the Silly String catches on something, there's trouble
"It blew my mind something so simple could help save soldier's lives," Marcelle said.
Marcelle packed a few cans into Todd's care package and shipped it off to him about a month ago. But then this mother from Stratford in Camden County got to thinking: If Silly String could help save her son's life, it could help save other mothers' sons as well.
So she asked her pastor, the Rev. Joseph Capella of St. Luke's Catholic Church in Stratford, if the church could start a collection drive.
"When she first came and said she wanted to collect Silly String for Todd, I laughed," Capella said. "Then she told me what it was used for and I said, 'Absolutely.'"
Marcelle wasn't usually one of the women at the church with time to organize things -- she's an office manager for a podiatrist and delights in baby-sitting her 3-year-old grandson, Todd's nephew -- but she got busy.
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She put an item in the church bulletin at St. Luke's and at Lady of Grace Church in nearby Somerdale. She decorated collection baskets with American flags and set them in the back of the church. She encouraged her fellow parishioners to donate cans.
And then -- the dot-com crowd would call it viral marketing, though Father Capella thinks God might have something to do with it -- word started to spread about the mother who had this novel little way to protect soldiers.
Someone sent the church bulletin to KYW Newsradio in Philadelphia, which did a segment about the effort. A Time magazine reporter happened to hear the radio broadcast and put in a small item about it. Next, a local ABC affiliate heard about it and did a story.
"It just seems like it's snowballing," Marcelle said.
Because as more people hear about what she's doing, more cans of Silly String come in. At first, the cans fit in her utility room. When there got to be about 400 of them, she had her husband, Ron, Todd's father, move them out to the garage.
Now, as it appears the garage may run out of room, the owner of a local storage facility has offered free space should she need it.
"For people who want to do something to help the troops but aren't sure what to do, it's a great little thing they can do," Marcelle said. "It's something inexpensive that everyone can help with -- school kids, Scout troops, churches. We're happy to take donations from anyone."
The Army won't say whether it is planning to add Silly String to its standard equipment issue -- it doesn't want to tip off the enemy about what countermeasures it uses -- but it encourages soldiers to do whatever they can to maximize their safety, whether it's packing Silly String or welding body armor onto their trucks.
"Soldiers in the field improvise all the time," said Maj. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman. "That's just good soldiering."
In the meantime, Marcelle is planning to ship Silly String to as many soldiers as she can find.
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One hurdle is getting the cans to Iraq. It turns out that because Silly String cans are pressurized, they're considered hazardous material. The Postal Service won't ship them air mail, and surface mail can take three months.
But Marcelle has had a little magic on that front as well. A pilot in a private air freight company heard about her effort and has offered her free shipping. It just seems like every obstacle has quickly been batted down and, well, Father Capella can't help but seeing God at work again.
"So much of the time, we wait for God to come to us in some huge way," he said. "But God comes to us in very ordinary ways, too -- sometimes as ordinary as a can of Silly String."
It's something Marcelle said she enjoys organizing, partly because it makes her feel like she's doing something to help, partly because it takes a worried mother's mind off less-pleasant thoughts.
Ron has gotten a kick out of it, too. He's a Vietnam veteran and a proud dad who is touched by the generosity of strangers.
As for Todd, he's a bit hard to get hold of at times. But if you visit his MySpace page, you get an idea what he might think about this whole Silly String thing.
In his personal information section, in the part that asks him to list his "goal for this year," his response is to the point: "To stay alive for another one."
Brad Parks may be reached at (973) 392-7961 or bparks@starledger.com.