Friends of Newtown Seniors held its annual Paper Shredding Event in the parking lots behind Newtown Savings Bank and Edmond Town Hall on June 6.

Newtown Savings Bank sponsored the event, with all proceeds to benefit FONS programs and activities. Seniors paid $5 per box while all other individuals paid $10 per box to securely dispose of confidential documents.

Approximately ten boxes of paper were shredded every five minutes. The paper shredding truck was parked behind Newtown Savings Bank’s office building at 39 Main Street and well before the event opened at 9 am, a line of cars snaked across that lot and well into the adjacent lot at 45 Main Street. The line reached into the lower lot of Edmond Town Hall, and later stretched the additional 300 yards from the lower lot out to Main Street.

There were so many people hoping to have documents shredded that morning, no arriving vehicles were allowed to join the line after 11:15, a full 45 minutes before the planned conclusion of the event.

Newtown High School students and Newtown Savings Bank employees also volunteered during the event. NHS students assisted with unloading documents and NSB employees had the equally unenviable task of traffic control during the hot, humid Saturday morning.

As FONS Founder and President John Boccuzzi Sr wrote in a letter to the editor last week, the demand was “extraordinary.” Boccuzzi offered thanks and appreciation to those who waited for so long, some over an hour.

“We are already taking the lessons learned from this year's event and planning improvements for next year,” Boccuzzi also wrote. “Our goal is to increase capacity and create a more efficient process,” he promised.