The Story Behind Minster Bank’s Community Shred Event Series

Every year, Minster Bank hosts a series of events called “Community Shred” events at multiple locations. At these events, all community members are encouraged to bring various paper documents containing sensitive information to be safely disposed of ― via a Shred-it truck outfitted with a portable shredding machine.

The Community Shred events have been a fixture at Minster Bank since 2008 when the first one was held at the Troy location. Now, hundreds of people participate, with some attendees returning year after year.

Why Attend a Community Shred Event?

Shredding is one of the easiest ways to prevent identity theft and fraud. Think about all the letters and documents you receive in the mail from week to week – bills, statements, tax forms, applications for credit, etc. Would you be OK with someone else getting ahold of the information contained in your mail?

During a Community Shred event, community members are invited to bring up to five bags of paper documents to be shredded free of charge right then and there. These documents could be anything containing sensitive information like Social Security numbers, account numbers, identifying information or anything else you don’t want getting into the wrong hands.

As an added bonus, Shred-it, the company Minster Bank partners with to put on the Community Shred events, recycles all the shredded paper material it receives.

How Minster Bank’s Community Shred Events Began

The Community Shred events began as an idea that Orval Homan, who served as Minster Bank’s president from 1982-2007, had after reading an article from the Independent Community Bankers of America.

“There was a real short article that I happened to see about a bank that did the Shred-it,” said Homan. “And I thought, ‘This is just really a good idea. We ought to do that.’”

Minster Bank’s first Community Shred event took place in April 2008 at the Troy location, with 80 vehicles participating, 6,000 pounds of paper shredded and 35 trees saved. Since then, Minster Bank has hosted at least two Community Shred events each year at various locations, partnering with other community organizations such as the Sidney-Shelby County Crime Stoppers and the city of Wapakoneta.

Now, the event series typically includes three or four events held throughout the year at multiple locations. To date, almost 3,000 community members have participated in the Community Shred events in total.

In addition to the Community Shred events, Minster Bank has also hosted: