Rotary Clubs do a lot of great things in the community, and they do fundraisers to pay for their projects, like Shred-a-thons and other paper-shredding events.
Paper-shredding events in 2024 include one in North Vancouver (on April 6th) and in Port Moody (on June 1st).
Rotarians do other fundraising activities too, like hosting ribfests, book sales, and beer-tasting events. They also host Hoop-a-Thons where people throw basketballs to raise money for charities. There is also the Rotary Ride for Rescue which is a cycling event up Cypress Mountain on June 8th in 2024.
At a paper-shredding event, a group of Rotarians will host a day where the general public can take their old confidential papers to a designated location to be destroyed. In exchange for a donation, the papers are shredded on site. The owners of the papers are happy, because their private, personal documents no longer exist, and the cost for doing so is very reasonable. The community also benefits because net proceeds raised benefit local, national and international humanitarian projects.
To learn about Rotary and a couple of its paper-shredding events in the Lower Mainland, continue reading. To learn about specific opportunities to get your personal and confidential papers destroyed in the first half of 2024, click North Vancouver Shred-It (for the April 6th event) or Port Moody Shred-a-Thon (for the June 1st event).
Rotary Paper Shredding Events in the Lower Mainland
A number of local Rotary Clubs host paper-shredding events. Some host one annually. A few host more than one a year. The Rotary Club of Lions Gate in North Vancouver has been hosting a paper-shredding event for a few years now. The Rotary Club of Port Moody, meanwhile, has been offering the service for many years. The club in Port Moody was probably the first to do so in the Lower Mainland in fact.
Below are details about both clubs’ events in April and June of 2024.
Shred-It For Charity in North Vancouver
The Rotary Club of Lions Gate hosts Shred-It For Charity in North Vancouver. It takes place in the parking lot outside District Hall at 355 West Queens Road (which is a couple of blocks from Lonsdale Avenue above the Trans-Canada Highway). In 2024, on Saturday, April 6th, the event happens between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm. It was going to end at 2:00 pm, but then they extended it to 4:00 pm.
Another event hosted by this same Rotary Club is the Canada Day Celebrations in North Vancouver on July 1st. It’s a fabulous, free community event that they’ve been doing for years!
To learn more about the April 6th event, click Shred-It For Charity 2024. To learn about the organization behind the event, see the Rotary Club of Lions Gate‘s website. For ideas on things to do while you’re in the area, see our articles about North Vancouver or the North Shore.
(Note: The Rotary Club of Lions Gate is an exceptional club comprised of a wonderful group of people. If you live or work on the North Shore, and want to help do great work in the community, this is a great club to be connected with. They have meetings at around noon most Fridays at the Delbrook Rec Centre at 851 West Queens Road in North Vancouver.)
Port Moody Rotary Shred-A-Thon
The Rotary Club of Port Moody hosts its annual Shred-A-Thon event in early June. It happens outside Port Moody City Hall which is located at 100 Newport Drive in downtown Port Moody. In 2024 the event takes place on Saturday, June 1st, from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm. The shredding service is by donation. At this event you can pay by cash, cheque, Visa or Mastercard.
Awesome major events also hosted by this particular Rotary Club are Search for the Perfect Pint in May and Port Moody Ribfest in July. The first is a fabulous craft beer-themed event held at Port Moody City Hall. The one in the summer, meanwhile, is a massive community event with food trucks, live entertainment and family-friendly activities.
To learn more about the Shred-A-Thon event, see the Port Moody Rotary Club‘s website. For ideas on other things to do while you’re in the area, see our article about the City of Port Moody.
(Note: The Port Moody Rotary Club is another exceptional Rotary Club. It’s actually one of the most active and impactful service clubs in BC! Few major events happen in Port Moody that aren’t in some way connected to this group of committed individuals. They meet for breakfast on Wednesday mornings at St. James’s Well Pub at 248 Newport Drive in Port Moody. If you live in the Tri-Cities area and want to be involved in the community, this is a terrific club to be a part of. Some members drive from other parts of the Lower Mainland to be in this organization too.)
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are answers to some frequently asked questions related to Rotary paper-shredding events.
What Can You Get Shredded?
Examples of things you can take to get shredded include medical and health care-related paperwork, business documents and old tax papers. You can also get your banking, credit card and other financial statements securely destroyed. The events are great ways to permanently get rid of any personal and confidential paper items you don’t want anyone, especially crooks, getting their hands on.
What Can’t You Get Shredded?
Things you can’t get shredded include books, magazines and other general recyclables. You also can’t take plastic items, photos, clothes, CDs or metal items. You can only take paper which will get shredded and then recycled.
How Much Does It Cost?
People are encouraged to donate as much as they want and can. Suggested donations are usually around $5 or $10 per box or bag. Many people give more, like $20, or sometimes even $50 plus. It’s a valuable service, and the money goes to a good cause.
The Rotary clubs usually have to hire a shredding company for the day, typically at a generously reduced rate. After that expense, plus advertising, all proceeds benefit charitable and humanitarian causes. If you can, give generously! And if you can’t, just give what you can. Every little bit helps.
Can I Get A Tax Receipt for My Donation?
No (but yes). You can’t get a tax receipt for your donation for the paper-shredding service, especially if it’s just $5 or $10. If you’d like to make an extra large donation, however, above and beyond a reasonable amount for the shredding, you can make a separate donation to Rotary and get a tax receipt for that.
Some clubs have their own charitable foundations, and you can donate to those. You can also donate to the Rotary Foundation, which is Rotary’s international charitable foundation.
Good to know, the Rotary Foundation is one of the highest-ranked and most respected charitable organizations in the world. It has a huge impact and one of the lowest operating costs of any comparable charity.
If you donate to the Rotary Foundation, almost all of the funds go straight to charitable causes. Very little goes to overhead, and far, far less as a percent than almost any other charity you can donate to. It’s an amazing charitable organization! Over the years the Rotary Foundation has supported thousands of humanitarian projects around the world with over $3 billion in funding! The organization’s general administration costs are usually less than 5%, which is impressive! Local Rotary Clubs are also run entirely by volunteers.
What Does Rotary Do With My Donation?
Rotary Clubs do charitable work in their local communities as well as nationally and around the globe. They support vulnerable youth, seniors projects and all kinds of great things locally. Nationally and in other countries, they do a lot in the areas of healthcare, literacy, peace, and the list goes on! To learn more about Rotary and what Rotarians do, continue reading.
What is Rotary?
Rotary is a service organization with clubs all around the world. It’s a club for business people, professionals and pretty much anyone who wants to join and make a difference in both their local community and internationally.
There are over 45,000 Rotary Clubs and more than 1.4 million members on the planet. Rotarian projects include ones related to peace, health, fighting disease, clean water, sanitation, education, the environment, and other charitable and humanitarian causes.
Individual Rotary Clubs have meetings, usually once a week, but sometimes less often. Sometimes they are business meetings, where members plan and prepare for their various projects. On other weeks they might have a guest speaker. Some clubs have lunch meetings. Others meet over breakfast, coffee or dinner. Every club is different. There are clubs in municipalities all over the Lower Mainland (and BC, Canada and some 200 or so other countries).
Rotary’s mission statement is to “provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.”
What Are Other Rotary Events in the Lower Mainland?
Rotary Clubs host lots of events. Some of them are fundraising events, where the purpose is to raise money for charitable projects. Sometimes though the events are simply for the community.
The Rotary Club of Lions Gate, for example, has organized the Canada Day Celebrations in North Vancouver for at least a couple of decades. The Rotary Club of Port Moody, meanwhile, is the organization behind Port Moody Ribfest and Search for the Perfect Pint.
Other Rotary-related events in the Lower Mainland include Langley Ribfest, the White Rock Polar Bear Swim, and Rotary Ride for Rescue in West Vancouver. There is also the Rotary Ride for Hearing, Chilliwack Christmas Parade and a number of others.
Shred-a-Thon Video
To get an idea of what happens at a Rotary paper-shredding event, and what the paper-shredding process looks like, check out the video below. It shows scenes from the Port Moody Shred-a-Thon from a few years ago. As you’ll see, the process is fast, efficient and secure.
Other Information
To learn more about Rotary, see the Rotary District 5440 or Rotary International websites.
To learn more about the Rotary Clubs behind the paper-shredding events in North Vancouver and Port Moody, see the Rotary Club of Lions Gate and Port Moody Rotary Club‘s websites.
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