If you have personal documents you are ready to part with, you can shred them safely and help the Newmarket Food Pantry as part of an upcoming Shred-it for charity event this October.
The event is hosted by Andrea Bartley of IPC Securities. She held a similar event last year to help people dispose of personal documents they had been holding on to and said it was a big hit.
"People over the last few years have been at home and had nothing else to do, cleaning out their closets and all their personal documents. So it's been great to give people an outlet for donation, they can come in, drop off all their stuff, and it's all secure and they can see it being shredded at that moment and not have to worry about it," she said.
Bartley thought it would be good as an annual event to help people de-clutter and also protect them from identity theft or fraud.
"There's been a lot of fraud out there. Whether it's people going through people's garbage, there's spam and the emails," she said.
You should be careful when disposing of any documents that contain personal information that could be used to steal your identity. This includes bank statements, investment account statements, old credit cards, old ID cards, tax statements. Bartley said the consensus is you can part with anything older than seven years.
"They may be cleaning out or moving an elderly parent out of a home. This may be a great opportunity to go through all those documents and get rid of things," Bartley said.
The event is also an opportunity to support the local community. Along with their documents to be shredded, people are also encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item or monetary donation for the Newmarket Food Pantry.
While Bartley said she isn't sure exactly how much was raised last year for the food pantry, she said it "was a really great turnout for that. It was very successful so we're looking forward to doing it again."
She said with the food pantry's new community fridge and the ongoing need it felt like the perfect place to support again this year.
"I think that helping the community is a really great thing. So I'm really excited for it," she said.
The shredding event will take place on Oct. 1 in the parking lot of IPC Securities at 431 Timothy St. in Newmarket. You can bring any documents that need shredding between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. A truck from Absolute Destruction will be on site to provide on the spot shredding services and their employees can answer any questions you may have.
There is no cost, but a donation to the food pantry is encouraged, and there is also no limit to how much you can shred as Bartley said you can bring as much as you can carry.
