WSLS 10 Shred-A-Thon kicks off collecting 60,000 pounds in Rocky Mount

ROCKY MOUNT (WSLS 10) -- The WSLS 10 Kodiak Shredding Shred-A-Thon kicked off Monday in Rocky Mount, the place where the bi-annual event began in 2014.

Rocky Mount brought in 10,000 pounds of paper at that first event on November 3, 2014 but on Monday, they came with six times that amount.

Monday's event, the first of five weekly shred events, netted 60,000 pounds of material.

Laura Dearing drove from Roanoke to get an early start on the five-week shred and to make room in her garage for her car.

"It's been something I've been dreading. It's overwhelming and when I found out you guys were going to be here I thought, now is the time," she said. "I'm not having to go through every piece and shred it, that was the overwhelming part. And you just helped us out tremendously."

Judy Bowman cleared her home of personal and business documents from the couple's dairy farm.

"We cleaned out a whole filing cabinet or drawer and also a desk and also we had a lot to stored in boxes in our basement. So we were glad to get rid of it all."

Bowman ended up with a trunk full.

"We just accumulate so much over the years and it's nice to have a little more space and have stuff cleaned out," she said.

It's about clearing out and saving money. Just ask Joanna Garst with the Franklin County Circuit Court.

"It would have been a tremendous because we would have had to have someone come to our location and shred everything so this has been great," Garst said.

The court saved $2,000 shredding its documents at Monday's Shred-A-Thons, rather than hiring a company on its own.

"These are from previous elections, court records we've had for 10 years or longer and it's mostly electoral information that we have to store for the county. And we needed to get rid of them in a safe way," she explained.

Shredding documents safely, securely and without limits.

To date, the WSLS 10 Shred-A-Thons have netted 1,619,000 pounds of paper.

Remaining Shred-A-Thons will be held October 31 at the Lynchburg Schewels (7007 Timberlake Road); November 7 at the Christiansburg Schewels (1055 Peppers Ferry Road); November 14 at the Danville Schewels (126 Sandy Court); and November 21 at the Roanoke Schewels (3602 Ferncliff Avenue).

All WSLS 10 Shred-A-Thons are free and there is no limit on how much anyone can bring. Individuals and businesses are welcome at each site from 6 a.m. - 2 p.m..