The Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce and Riverdale Credit Union helped provide residents with a way to protect themselves from identity theft on Saturday.

Both organizations sponsored Dallas County’s second annual Shred-it Day Saturday in the chamber parking lot, as businesses and residents were able to bring a boxes and bags of their outdated personal documents to be shredded at no charge.

Sheryl Smedley, executive director of the Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce, said the event was a success and improved on last year.

“This event has been very successful,” Smedley said. “We’ve had a steady stream of folks coming in. You can see where it’s caught on the second year. There’s been a much more steady flow of traffic.”

Shred-it is an on-site document shredding company with 140 locations throughout the country and the world, which aims to provide a way for people to shred sensitive documents in order to protect themselves from identity theft — a crime the Federal Trade Commission says affects more that 9 million Americans each year.

Smedley said Shred-it Day is a great way to fight the crime of identity theft and ensure personal security.

“People have made a business out of personal identity theft, and once you get your identity stolen, it could take you two years to get all of your personal effects back in order,” Smedley said. “So this allows you to get rid of these older documents that you no longer need and make sure they’re properly disposed of.”

George Crum, who participated by bringing in documents to shred, said it’s a great service to the community.

“We had a lot of old bank statements and paperwork from my brother-in-law — he passed away about two years ago — and we’re just trying to get rid of a lot of confidential type stuff that needed to be shredded for security reasons,” Crum said. “It’s definitely a good service.”

Louella Guthridge, who also came out to dispose of her sensitive documents, said she made sure to participate this year after missing last year’s event, and Shred-it Day helped her do something that would have taken her months to do on her own.

“I wasn’t able to go last year, but I saw it this morning in today’s paper, so I made sure I came and brought all my past legal documents and other important papers with my identity on them, so they could be shredded,” Guthridge said. “That way, I know no one can get a hold of them. I have a small, personal shredder at home, but it’s not enough and would take me months to shred all of the paper. I think this is a very good service.”