PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — For the first time since 2017, the Shred-A-Thon took place at the Panama City mall on Saturday.
Many of News 13’s very own helped residents as they drove up to get rid of their unwanted documents.
The Perry and Young Law Firm was excited to finally be a sponsor again.
“We’ve been a sponsor of the shredding festivities for the past ten years,” attorney Larry Perry said. “We had to take a break because of hurricane Michael and COVID but we’re back out here on this beautiful day.”
Event organizers said they anticipated 400 vehicles, which would mean shredding six tons of sensitive documents.
Residents were given the chance to safely get rid of personal information.
“Each one of those documents contains the date of birth, social security numbers, anything that if a
thief got a hold of them, they could put it out on the dark web, could sell it, could get information, ruin people’s credit, and ruin people’s lives,” Perry said. “This is an opportunity to put a stop to it.”
Many people took advantage of the free Shred-A-Thon.
“I just needed to get rid of some documents so this seemed like a perfect opportunity,” local resident Clene Cusumano said. “It’s a great organization and concept for the community, it really helped us out.”
News 13 is dedicated to helping the community. Members of our team helped out with unloading the boxes and bags from vehicles. Residents were excited to see familiar faces.
“They’ve had a great time, seeing some of the news personalities,” Perry said. “Everybody wants to get a picture with Amy Hoyt and that’s awesome.”
Perry and Young enjoyed the collaboration with the News 13 employees.
“Perry and Young is proud to be with News 13 on this, being Panhandle Strong, making us a better community,” Perry said.
Perry said they are hoping to schedule the next Shred-it Event around tax time in the spring.