Free Shred-It Day Nets Over 10 Tons of Paper

By C. MacDonald

More than 400 cars dropped off an estimated 10 tons of personal documents without fear of Identity Theft at the Rogers' Senior Center's 2nd Annual "Free Shred-It Day" March 21st. Sponsored by the Huntington Beach Council on Aging and the Orange County Association of Realtors, the fun event was run by volunteers, who lifted hundreds of boxes from cars that were emptied into refuse containers, then dumped into Southern California Shredding trucks. They were shredded on site, then the paper debris was taken to Santa Ana where it would be recycled for use in other products.

"It feels so good to purge," said Debbie Krumboltz of the OC Association of Realtors. "It's a volunteer effort on the part of our Green Committee and we have one event in the North and one in South Orange County."

"This really gives you incentive to get rid of unnecessary stuff," said Nobu Stillwell of ReMax Terrasol in Huntington Beach, who brought in four of her own boxes to shred.

Sean Root walked to the event with his sons Ian, 12, and Colin, 10, carrying boxes from his file cabinets. "I've been scanning everything and don't need all these personal records anymore," said the software developer. "It's also a great way to help prevent Identity Theft."

Longtime Council on Aging board member Pat Davis was helping unload cars. "I'm amazed at the turnout. It's a success for everyone involved," she said. "People are doing away with clutter and recycling things."

"The cars have been coming all day," said Ed Pinchiff, a HB Planning Commissioner and Marketing Chairman for the Council on Aging. "We've been accepting boxes and paper grocery bags filled with personal papers, junk mail and old file folders. The shredding company's two trucks have been busy all day.

To learn more about other activities of the HB Council on Aging, look at hbcoa.org or call 714-536-9387. They sponsor Senior Saturday, a Golf Tournament, Seniors on the Go Transportation and so much more.