Friends of the Ludlow Senior Center to host shredding event

| Tyler Garnet
tgarnet@thereminder.com

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Friends Assistant Treasurer Jackie Doyle (left), Friends Vice President Peg Hinkle (center) and a representative of ProShred take a picture at last year’s event.
Photo credit: Kathy Green

LUDLOW — The Friends of the Ludlow Senior Center will be hosting a free drive-thru shredding event on Saturday, May 6, from 9-11 a.m. in the Ludlow Senior Center parking lot.

The Senior Center is located at 228 State St.

According to Friends of the Ludlow Senior Center President Kathy Green, everyone from the community is invited but each car is limited to five boxes or bags of paper.

ProShred is the paper shredding company that will have a truck at the event for immediate shredding of residents’ personal documents.

Green said that there will be people in the parking lot to assist with transporting any boxes or documents from a person’s car.

Reports of scams and financial crimes are always in the news and the elderly population is a heavily affected age group when it comes to scammers.

According to a study done by ConsumerAffairs, older adults are swindled out of more than $3 billion each year and suffer an average loss of $34,200.

Even though this event is open to anybody, Green is looking forward to helping the senior population specifically.

She said, “With all the fraud and that type of thing where seniors are a target for fraud often time, we like to offer that service just so that it is safer for them to throw their important papers away rather than just throw it in the trash and risk someone finding something.”

Green added that is better to have it at the Senior Center so that the senior citizens can go somewhere they feel comfortable.

“The goal is to process as many boxes as possible of financial information safely for both our seniors and the town and offer that service free of charge, so people don’t feel obligated to pay for that service,” Green said.

Although the event is free, Green said “The Friends are happy to accept any and all donations.”

The Friends of the Senior Center is a nonprofit organization that has been around since 1981 and, according to Green, their sole purpose is to fundraise and accept donations to supplement programs at the Senior Center.

The Friends currently pay for the exercise classes at a discount, monthly entertainment, landscaping and new patio furniture for the summer.

Green said she is excited to have the shred event return after not being able to put it on during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Friends of the Senior Center hosted a shred event after the pandemic but said they was limited participation from the public due to it being on a Wednesday.

Green added, “We hope to do this event every year or every 18 months. Now that is going to be a Saturday, we are hoping we will be able to support the public.