By ANNA GILGOFF

Special to The Press

A steady stream of cars snaked along the road circling the Lower Macungie Township Center on Brookside Road under bright blue skies on May 6.

They were there for one purpose: to drop off personal, private papers for shredding.

By 1 p.m., more than 641 cars had moved through the queue.

“It’s like a well-oiled machine,” state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-187th said, who sponsored the event. “People love it.”

Residents were asked to remain in their cars as members of Mackenzie’s staff unloaded boxes of material destined for shredding.

“It’s going great,” said Stan Cupp, who works for the township.

“We actually filled up two trucks and there’s a third truck on hand.”

Mackenzie invited residents to use the service through his spring newsletter and phone calls.

“We started doing this ever since I came to office, for about 10 years,” he said.

Residents interested in protecting their personal information have continued to show interest in the shredding service.

“Identity theft is such a big issue these days,” Mackenzie said. “And, Pennsylvania has one of the highest rates of identity theft.

“We have a bank of volunteers and we partnered with Wehrung’s so we saved taxpayers’ dollars.”

“We had a great turnout,” said Paige Riegner, Mackenzie’s chief of staff. “We’re really happy to provide this for our neighbors.”

Kim Wehrung and her son, Paul welcomed residents and offered a $10 gift certificate that could be used to purchase of a wide array of products at Wehrung’s, formerly Dries.

“As we’re growing, we want the community to know that we are still a family business,” said Kim Wehrung, who runs the charitable donations for the company. “We want to support the community, and this is a great way to do it.”

“It’s a great time to get people to the shop.”

“There are so many home projects waiting to be done and we’re waiting to help.”

“It was a lot of fun,” Paul Wehrung said. “I was able to interact with people and watch how politicians can help people.”

The shredding event is scheduled two times a year.

“People have all these sensitive papers and this is a great way to safely dispose of them,” Mackenzie said. “We do it right after tax time and then again in October.”