WHITMAN, MA, ISSUED MAY 20, 2008…Mutual Bank has teamed up with the Town of Whitman to host its first annual “Community Shred Day” Saturday, June 14, at their Whitman Center office parking lot at 570 Washington Street, Whitman Center.
The event, which will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., will have a mobile, secure, on-site shredder and will provide the opportunity for Whitman residents to bring paperwork to the site that they would like to have securely destroyed.
The idea for the event came about when John Duval, a director of Mutual Bank and also chairman of the Whitman Board of Health, was brainstorming solutions to help Whitman residents maximize their recycling and also discard personal information in a secure manner.
Glen S. White, CEO of Mutual Bank, was immediately enthusiastic, and volunteered the Bank's services to host and sponsor the project. The Whitman Board of Selectmen sealed the deal with their endorsement.
“We have all heard stories about how an individual’s important financial information can fall into the wrong hands and the individual then becomes prey to identity theft,” said White, adding, “Most of the time, people think of Internet scams as the cause of this. The truth is, the majority of such thefts occur in the seemingly unlikely way of discarded paperwork.”
He said, “People rightly are concerned about simply throwing away information that could end up in the wrong hands. We encourage curbside recycling of all paper, but recognize the risks of including personal documents. That is why Mutual Bank has long been a strong proponent of securely destroying unneeded old records and protecting financial information.”
Mutual Bank routinely shreds and recycles all old paper records, as well as employing the latest in secure Internet sites to provide the utmost in privacy protection for clients.
“The event that we have planned for June 14 underscores our commitment to protection of privacy,” White said.
Duval added, "This is a great opportunity for all Whitman residents to clean out their unwanted, personal papers and see them securely shredded, and discarded in an environmentally responsible way, at no cost to them. We encourage everyone to participate."
Mutual Bank is working with Datasafe Security Shredding, a West Bridgewater firm that specializes in secure document destruction. Datasafe will have a mobile shredder, nicknamed "Jaws", on site. White said that the Whitman residents can bring documents that they would like to see securely destroyed to the event, at no charge.
Typically, such papers could include bills, old financial records, bank statements, legal documents, credit card offers, old tax returns, or cancelled checks – anything that could cause a problem if it ended up in the wrong hands. The shredding process rips the paperwork into confetti particles that are pressed into approx. 10,000 lbs. of other particles in the truck, then baled and bundled for secure recycling into new paper products.
About Mutual Bank
Mutual Bank is an independent, mutually-owned bank serving the community’s personal and small business banking needs, with full-service offices in Whitman, Brockton, Carver, Falmouth, Halifax, Hanson and Middleboro. Mutual Bank will open its ninth location this fall, in Plymouth. The Bank has operated continuously as an independent, local institution for more than a century. The main office is located at 570 Washington Street in Whitman, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.MyMutualBank.com, or call Christine Grundy, Vice President/Director of Marketing, at 781-447-4488.
