Residents of Pointes, Harper Woods invited to Shred Day

GROSSE POINTE SHORES — Residents of the five Grosse Pointes and Harper Woods are invited to get rid of personal documents in a secure manner — and reduce the risk of becoming a victim of identity theft — during the Grosse Pointe Shores Beautification Advisory Committee’s annual drive-thru Shred Day from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. May 4 at Osius Park, 800 Lake Shore Road.

The event is held in conjunction with Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup.

Participants pay $5 per grocery-sized paper bag or banker-sized box of paper documents, such as old taxes or bills. Acceptable items include canceled checks, bank statements and letters. Only paper documents can be shredded.

Items that cannot be accepted include credit cards, cardboard, floppy disks, CDs and tissue paper or paper towels.

The popular event usually gets a helping hand from local high school students.

“People say ours is the best of any Shred Day around town,” Shores Beautification Advisory Committee Chair Helen Bai said during an April 16 Shores City Council meeting.

Last year, Bai said, the event actually made about $1,200 after the cost to pay for the shredding truck and its workers was covered. While she said that’s great because it can help with the city’s beautification projects, she said that’s not the reason they organize Shred Day.

“Our goal has never been … to make money,” Bai said. “It’s a community service.”

At some stores that offer shredding, she said, customers “pay by the pound, and it can get really expensive.”

According to the United States Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, roughly 23.9 million people — or 9% of those ages 16 and older — had been the victims of identity theft in 2021. Those victims suffered financial losses that, in 2021 alone, totaled $16.4 billion.

Mayor Ted Kedzierski acknowledged Bai’s role in making this and other events happen, and in finding others in the community who can lend a hand.

“Helen, thank you for your many, many years of volunteering … and getting the (other) volunteers involved,” Kedzierski said. “People have said (to me), ‘How can I say no to Helen?’”

For more information, visit gpshoresmi.gov.