LAFAYETTE. La. (KLFY) – Friday hundreds of residents dropped off thousand’s of pounds of personal documents, and with the help of our friends at Shred-it, their identity could be saved. The Acadiana Mall parking lot was booming Friday for the shred-a-thon. They were able to drop off personal items like bank statements, tax information, and hospital records. Shred-it is a company that provides a safe and secure way to dispose of these personal documents. James Gautreau said it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

“With everything that is going on today, you can’t take any chances. It’s always good to be safe.”

Mary Delahoussaye said she’s been holding on to documents for over a year and is happy to know she will be the only person who see’s them.

“I have a lot of important documents that I don’t want anybody’s hands to get on besides me. I held on to it for over two years and when you guys said shred it, I’m here.”

For others, like Sally Jones, the shred-a-thon was much more personal.

“Well I used my card at a store and I got an alert from my bank saying it had been hacked.”

Jones said she didn’t realize the importance of securing your information until it happened to her.

“I have a lot of cards and you need to shred that. It’s going to help keep identity theft down.”

Nearly 20 thousand pounds of documents were collected and shredded.