BY NICK DIAMANTIDES
Staff Writer
Now residents and business owners in Southern California can have documents with confidential information shredded while enhancing a nonprofit organization’s ability to provide jobs to economically disadvantaged people. On Feb. 5, the Long Beach Goodwill Industries facility at 800 West Pacific Coast Highway initiated its secure document shredding service— dubbed Shred-4-Good— with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
About 106 people attended the event. Festivities began at 1pm, and the lineup of speakers included officials from Goodwill, local governments, the Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) and the Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
“Shred-4-Good will provide consumers and businesses with a much needed safe, secure and effective method of document destruction which meets regulatory requirements of destroying and disposing of sensitive documents,” said Brad Ward, owner of Ward’s Appliance and vice chair of Goodwill’s board of directors. He added that the program aligns with Goodwill’s more than 80 years of environmental efforts. “We anticipate that half a million pounds of paper will be diverted from landfills in our first year of operation, increasing to an excess of 3 million pounds of paper by 2011,” he explained. (The shredded paper will be transported to mills that use it in the manufacture of new paper.)
Ward noted that the shredding service would help fulfill Goodwill’s main mission: providing meaningful job opportunities to residents in the area. “We estimate that by 2011, we will employ 30 individuals in this operation,” he noted. “It will expand our mission and our reach in the community we serve.”
Janet McCarthy-Wilson, Long Beach Goodwill president and CEO, noted that she and other officials in the organization began planning for a document-shredding service more than a year ago. “It took a lot research and development, lots of work and an enormous amount of team collaboration here at Goodwill,” she said. “As the CEO, I would like you to understand the benefits of using the services of a not-for-profit social enterprise.”
McCarthy-Wilson explained that, like any other company, Goodwill must maintain a positive cash flow, but unlike profit-making businesses, Goodwill plows its earning back into efforts to help people get back on their feet. “Revenues we produce will go back into assisting with other programs,” she said. “The objective is to create self-sufficiency, so that we don’t have to rely on government funding. Now more than ever, people need job training so they can get back to work.”
LBPD Detective Sergeant Richard Farfan also addressed the audience. He noted that identity theft was on the rise nationally and in Long Beach. “We average about 10 million victims a year in the United States with losses exceeding $50 billion,” he said. “Here in Long Beach for 2008, we had over 1,100 victims.”
Farfan explained that shredding of documents containing credit card and bank account numbers as well as other personal information is one of the best ways to prevent someone from stealing your identity. “I am always amazed when I meet people who do not use a shredding service or do not have their own personal shredder,” he said.
Farfan stressed that companies that do not shred documents with the personal information of their customers can be held liable for losses if those documents are used to steal a person’s identity. “It is incumbent on business to take the responsibility and use resources such as Shred-4-Good,” he said. “It’s a way for you to avoid liability.”
Shari Delaney, United States postal inspector, also urged residents and business owners to shred all documents containing personal information rather than throwing them into the trash, where identity thieves and those planning on committing other kinds of fraud can retrieve them. “It would be great if we could get businesses and individuals to do their part,” she said. “This Goodwill document-shredding service is great.”
Delaney also encouraged the audience members to protect elderly relatives and friends by taking away and shredding their mail that contains lottery and credit-card offers. “They get scammed and it breaks my heart,” she said.
Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster echoed Farfan’s and Delaney’s warnings. He added that Shred-4-Good would enhance the ability of law-enforcement agencies to protect the public. “I could not be more happy than to have this program in Long Beach and to have it done by an organization that contributes so much,” he said. “I urge everyone to use this service.”
Carson Mayor Jim Dear spoke next. “Goodwill has a great reputation,” he said. “I think it is really a wise decision to take on this endeavor of shredding because businesses can rely on the safety of it.”
Goodwill’s Shred-4-Good offers pick-up service by uniformed, background-checked, bonded and fully insured employees driving GPS-monitored vehicles. In addition, the shredding facility is protected with 24-hour, 90-day recorded video monitoring, an alarm system and security personnel.
For more information, phone (562) 216-5256 or visit www.shred-4-good.org
