The Prince George Crime Stoppers Society will be out shredding it this weekend.
The society, in partnership with Shred-It mobile shredding services, will be providing residents an opportunity to safely destroy any unneeded documents containing personal information.
Society president Jack Hooper said the event is a good way to prevent those documents, and the personal information they contain, from falling into the hands of identity thieves.
"Identity theft has just been climbing like crazy," Hooper said. "What we want to do is [help] people like me: I have filing cabinets full of stuff, some of it 10 years old, with my personal information on it. There is no reason to keep that stuff."
According to statistics reported by the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, 19,473 Canadians reported being the victims of identity fraud in 2013 - up from 17,094 in 2012 and 16,997 in 2011. In 2013, Canadians lost more than $11 million to identity thieves.
Crime Stoppers' shredding event runs Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, in the parking lot of Walmart (6565 Southridge Ave.)
Shredding services are limited to no more than two banker's boxes of papers and businesses are not eligible to participate, Hooper said.
Shredding will be provided by donation, with all proceeds going to support the Prince George Crime Stoppers Society.
"We're a not-for-profit, so we're always looking for ways to support the program," Hooper said. "We would like to [raise] $1,000."
For more information about Prince George Crime Stoppers, go online to www.pgcrimestoppers.bc.ca.
