Third Shredder Day of week draws crowd

Hundreds take advantage of free document shredding

JACKSONVILLE, Fla – The last of three Shredder Days took place Saturday in Mandarin and an estimated 4,500 people came out to be a part of it.

It was a Positively Jax event that gave people a safe way to get rid of unwanted paperwork and protect themselves against identity theft.

"I think this is fantastic, great for the community, great for the organization and I fully support it," said Charles Walker.

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Shredder Day is a chance for people in the community to get their unwanted documents shredded for free.

It's an annual event, but the first Walker's attended.

"A beautiful day, great to be out, and I happen to stop by the flower shop and noticed the event so I decided to participate," said Walker.

He joined hundreds of people at the Winn-Dixie in Mandarin who drove up, sometimes waiting in line, to have the boxes of papers they don't need shredded safely.

This is a partnership between Channel 4, Cintas Document Management, Winn-Dixie and Family Foundations.

It's the last of three Shredder Days held at Jacksonville Winn-Dixie locations this because of construction around the Channel 4 Studios.

On Monday crews processed 30,000 pounds of material after more than 600 cars drove through at a Westside Winn-Dixie on Normandy Boulevard.

Friday, 1,700 vehicles unloaded  paper into our giant shredder at the Winn-Dixie on Beach Boulevard near Parental Home Road.

"I think it's a brilliant idea that you can get people's personal identification information and get it shredded so you don't have all this loose information out in the streets. I think it's perfect, I think it's wonderful," said Michael Bailey.

Bailey says he tries to come to Shredder Day every year because it's easy and accessible.

Cintas employees helped people like Bailey and even businesses shred unwanted personal, financial or confidential documents on-site.

From the time they are dropped off to the time they are destroyed documents are closely monitored and protected.
Bailey said another reason he's here is because identity theft is a growing problem.

"I think people need to realize that it's something that can affect you in the short and long term. That they need to take this very seriously  and they need to take advantage of the opportunities when Cintas, and all these other companies come down here and do this for us," said Bailey.

In addition to getting rid of documents, the first 10,000 people got to take helpful documents back with them, a free financial education kit, including "Your Journey to Financial Health" something many say is just a bonus to an already helpful event.