WADSWORTH: The Blue Tip Committee awarded 18 community service organizations a total of $14,000 at a meeting Thursday.
Committee President Duane Montgomery and Treasurer Frank Collins estimated the committee has awarded over $400,000 since the committee started handing out proceeds 39 years ago.
The proceeds are from the Blue Tip Festival held each year in June. The festival is named for the blue tip matches once manufactured in Wadsworth. A giant blue tip match is mounted in the square and lighted by the parade marshals to symbolize the opening of the festival.
Montgomery thanked the many organizations that provide services to make the festival a success. Montgomery declared 2012 a "record year." The organizations lauded by Montgomery included the school system, sponsors, band boosters, Rotary Club, Trading Post, Home Depot and fire and police departments.
The organizations which received awards were Giving Doll, $250; Meals on Wheels, $500; FISH, $2,000; St. Vincent DePaul Society, $250; Menwa Apartments, $500; Wadsworth Center for Older Adults, $500; Shop with a Cop Program, $500; Wadsworth Safety Forces Summer Camp, $1,000 and Wadsworth Band Boosters, $1,000.
Franklin Elementary School received $1,000, the Bicentennial Committee, $1,000; Wadsworth Historical Society, $250; Wadsworth EMS, $750; Back to School Bash, $200; St. Marks Church for bell tower repairs, $500; Marians Closet, $1,000; Salvation Army Auxiliary, $1,000 and the Salvation Army, $1,500.
Tom Grace, Director of the Wadsworth Salvation Army, termed Wadsworth "an incredible community" and said there is "no finer place to live."
Grace said the organizations are all "interconnected" in making a difference in the community.
