Houston, Texas – November 6, 2013 – Shredding on the Go (SOTG) announced today that it has joined the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber helps businesses in northwestern region of Harris County to expand their customer network, implement new marketing strategies and collaborate with other businesses. In addition to these opportunities at the Chamber, SOTG is eager to join a community of businesses: “Shredding On The Go began as a community-driven small business, aspiring to bridge our employees and services with the needs of Northwest Houston. Joining the chamber is a natural extension of SOTG’s desire to be engaged with the community,” said Renee Parker, SOTG’s business manager.
Parker’s son, 22-year-old James Parker, owns Shredding on the Go (SOTG) and operates as its primary shredder. James is a special education student at Cy-Creek High School. The idea for his business started with family and friends who wanted to help James contribute to the community after high school. “We got together a group of James’ friends, therapists, teachers, and family, and we came up with the idea of a shredding business,” Parker said.
While James is non-verbal and uses a wheelchair, he shreds paper enthusiastically. “Once James heard the sound…once he saw the paper disappear into that thin slot, James was hooked on shredding. He had the skills, we just had to figure out how to utilize his skills to do something he loves — shredding,” says Carol Parker, James’ Occupational Therapist. James is a client of the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services who assisted James with the start up costs of his business. “James’ therapists taught him to shred, and once we purchased the shredders, we started getting customers,” said Parker.
Since 2010, Shredding on the Go has served more than thirty customers, some on a regular basis. Customers range from individuals to small businesses who need a safe and convenient way to dispose of confidential documents. SOTG has landed enough shredding jobs for James to hire two contract employees who also have disabilities and shred for several hours each week. Tim, one of James‘ contract shredders, is 40 years old, and working for SOTG is his first opportunity to earn a paycheck.
Shredding on the Go is a mobile shredding business, which means that James will take his shredders to the customer’s location and do the shredding on site, or if the customer prefers, Shredding on the Go will pick up the documents for shredding at SOTG’s facilities. Shredding on the Go recycles all of the shredded documents.
“We hope that by joining the Houston Northwest Chamber we can team up with other small businesses to make Houston a better place for all people to do business,” Parker said.
