Marcophiles: Shed your secrecy worries at shred party

Submitted

The baby son of migrant workers in Collier County and many others like him are the beneficiaries of the good work of the Bedtime Bundles organization. It raises money to provide much needed items for the children of migrant parents who move around a lot and have few possessions. A major fundraiser is coming up. See story in this column.

Don Farmer / Special to the Eagle

Here'ss the latest Marcophiles Sneak Peek photo. Do you know what it is and where it is located? The first person to email us with the correct answer will win a $50 US Savings Bond, courtesy of Orion Bank. Our emails: chris@chriscurle.com and don@donfarmer.com.

We’ve all read about the bizarre bad old days when the citizenry celebrated hangings or floggings in the town square. Victims sometimes had done terrible things, such as maybe being witches. Or jaywalkers.

Now comes an interesting public gathering on Marco Island, but with much less onerous activities in mind — a shredding party at Orion Bank, Saturday. And it’s free to all comers.

Bank manager Keith Dameron is bringing in a big-time shredding truck from the Shred It company’s office in Fort Myers.

From 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., March 7, anybody with documents to shred can bring them to the Orion Bank parking lot and have their secret stuff reduced to confetti.

“You don’t have to be an Orion Bank client to use this free shred service,” Dameron points out.

Keith is somewhat of an expert on the dangers of identity theft and document security and he plans to have information on hand to help people make their businesses and home financial records more secure from the bad guys.

Coffee and doughnuts also will be on hand, while they last. A key executive of the Shred It firm’s headquarters in Miami will be on hand to meet and greet.

The Shred It sales office coordinator in Fort Myers, Gay Sloan, says the firm is one of the oldest shredding companies in the world, with clients in 141 countries on five continents. Clients in Southwest Florida include many schools, hospitals, dentists, attorneys and others.

So if you’ve been wondering what to do with those old bank account statements from 1983 or the minutes of the last meeting from your career in the Foreign Legion, now’s the time and Orion Bank’s the place to ditch the evidence without worry.

A dog-related benefit to help needy families

Marco Island has a million charity events, so many that some of them seem just like the others.

Not this one — a Doggy Happy Hour at the CJ’s On The Bay at the Esplanade on March 25.

Islanders are invited to bring their dogs to the party, which includes a doggy fashion show, pet portraits, a raffle to win services of local groomers, veterinary services, pet store goodies and more.

The benefit is to raise money for Bedtime Bundles, a voluntary organization tries to meet the fundamental needs of migrant workers.

As Bedtime Bundles founder Karen Saeks put it, “The children of farm workers live in camps with multiple families in tiny trailers, most with holes in the floors, broken windows and no furniture, who sleep on bare floors with little or no bedding.

“These innocent victims of circumstance must crisscross the country with their families, traveling from crop to crop. They must leave behind whatever personal belongings they have, keeping them in a constant state of need.”

Basic needs include pajamas, socks, underwear, diapers, washcloths, towels, blankets, etc.

So CJ’s, the bayfront restaurant and bar, is going all out for the event, with food and drink for the dogs — oh, and also for the people. No cats are allowed and the dogs must be on leashes.

This Doggy Happy Hour is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Don’t forget these kids need your help and your dogs will help them as well, just by showing up.

Chilling word on the cost of running your frig

Keeping the OJ and the Red Bull chilled, the icemaker working and the produce perky can get costly.

The American Home Shield home warranty company says that a refrigerator accounts for about eight percent of our home energy use.

So the company is offering its client some tips on increasing refrigerator efficiency. They include:

n Keep the main cabinet between 35 and 38 degrees and the freezer between zero and five degrees.

n Clean dust from the condenser coils. This can bring an energy savings of up to six percent.

n Check the door seal with a dollar bill (or a $20 if you’re flush). If the bill slips or is easily removed, the seal may need replacing or the hinges may need adjustment. (Or you have a really skinny, counterfeit bill, which is possible I guess, knowing that the dollar isn’t what it used to be.)

Send us your photo

We invite you to submit photos for possible use in our Marcophiles Sneak Peek Photo Contest. If you have a picture of an object or a place on or near Marco Island, e-mail it to us and we might be able to make it one of our sneak peek photo subjects.

See if you can stump our readers with your photo. And don’t make them too easy. For example, a photo of Herb Savage’s wide open mouth as he sings “God Bless America” would be a no-brainer.

E-mail: don@donfarmer.com and chris@chriscurle.com.