By Oniska Blevins
The Selma Times-Journal

The Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and ASE Credit Union, formally Craig Credit Union, are teaming up for the city’s eighth annual Community Shred Day.

The shred day will be Saturday, May 19 from 10 a.m. until noon at The Centre for Commerce located at 912 Selma Ave.

In an effort to help with recycling and also lower the chances of identity theft, the two organizations are providing an opportunity for people to shred sensitive documents for free. The limit is four standard boxes or four large trash bags per household.

Executive director for the Selma and Dallas County Chamber of Commerce Sheryl Smedley said she knows first hand how important shredding these sensitive documents can be.

Smedley said after working in banks for more than 19 years, she has seen the toll it can have on a person’s life when their identity is compromised.

“Theft identity is on the rise, we read the news everyday and there’s something on there about identity [theft],” Smedley said.

After her many years of service she knew she had to do something to help with the rising statistics on identity theft.

“When I got over here at the chamber [Community Shred Day] was one of my things I wanted to provide to the community,” Smedley said.

Shred-it Solutions will bring a truck to shred the documents on site. The truck holds up to 4,000 pounds of paper and Inside Sales Executive Amber Cation said all of that old scrap it then donated put to good use.

“Everything is recycled and the shredded materials are brought to our facility here, and that’s where we basically bail it and send it over to the recycling company,” Cation said.

Cation said the organization has been doing shred-it events in different communities for the last 10 years, and it is still just as important as it once was. Companies also find shredding their old documents useful.

“Every company [shreds documents] for different reasons, most of it is to avoid any type of data breach,” Cation said.

Smedley said partnering with Shred-it for the shred day helps relieve some of the stresses people feel about getting rid of their old documents.