Friday | February 10, 2012
College Entrepreneur Helps American Troops in Iraq
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By
Shreyans Parekh
24 January 2007
Who would imagine that a can of silly string may save the life of an American soldier in Iraq? A request to brothers Shreyans and Sheetal Parekh to donate and ship cans of silly string to Iraq aroused their interest to find out how American troops use the bright-colored party favor to save lives. The brothers are the founders of Koyal Wholesale in Corona, Calif., a leading distributor of wedding and party supplies including silly string. Shreyans is also a business student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
But why would soldiers need silly string? It’s a simple but innovative idea. American troops use the stuff to detect trip wires attached to bombs. The silly string, also known as party, crazy or color string, comes in a pressured container and squirts out as long strands of "plastic goo." Before entering a building, troops squirt the plastic goo, which can shoot strands about 10 to 12 feet across the room. The bomb wires are nearly invisible to the naked eye. If the feather-light silly string hangs in the air, the troops know they have a problem. If it hits the floor, then there are no wires. American troops in Iraq have become masters of improvisation and the silly string is the new improvised safety tool in their arsenal.
After agreeing to donate more than 500 cans of silly string, the brothers ran into a transportation logistic problem. The silly string pressurized container is an aerosol can, which is considered to be a hazardous material. Large freight carriers such as the United States Postal Service, FedEX and UPS that normally service shipments for Koyal Wholesale are reluctant to fly such cargo by air. Sheetal then decided to contact one of his customers, David Dunn, who acquires U.S. and military flags from Koyal Wholesale and distributes them to military and veterans organizations throughout the USA and abroad. Koyal Wholesale is one of the largest distributors of American and military flags in the country.
Dunn manages an organization called militarysupporthq.org , which has shipped thousands of pounds of comfort food and care packages to American troops in Iraq. He was delighted with the idea and promised Sheetal that he will make arrangements with his contact at the March Air Force Base to have the silly string cans delivered to the troops. Dunn’s niece is stationed with the 101st Airborne Division in Ramadi, Iraq. Koyal Wholesale is making arrangements to send four cases (576 cans) of silly string to Dunn in Yucaipa, Calif.
While searching on the Internet about the use of silly string in Iraq, Shreyans came to know that Marcelle Shriver of Stratford, N.J., whose son, Army Spc. Todd Shriver, is stationed in Iraq, was the first to initiate a grass roots effort to collect more than 1,000 cans of silly string and have them delivered to that country by a private pilot.
© 2008, Young Money Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
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