NORWOOD -- The Norwood What Cheer Masonic Lodge #689, in concert with the New York State Grand Lodge, presented the Save The Fountain Committee with the Dewitt Clinton Masonic Award for Community Service during a ceremony recently at Fountain Park.

The Dewitt Clinton award is the only award of its kind to be presented by the New York Masons Grand Lodge, and is their highest award for recognition of distinguished or outstanding community service by non-Masonic organizations.

The award is named for Dewitt Clinton, a Mason, and sixth governor of New York, and who was instrumental in the building of the Erie Canal.

William MacIntire spoke of the efforts made by the Save The Fountain Committee over two and half years in their mission of “Preserving Norwood’s History for Future Generations,” through restoring the historic fountain and creating Fountain Park for the Norwood community. They achieved their goals by reaching out to past and present Norwood residents, local businesses and organizations, and received voluntary technical support from Clarkson University, SUNY Canton and the Solar Ready Vet Program at Fort Drum.

The Save The Fountain Committee also honors these people for their contributions:

• Mike Tuper, Norwood, for his significant efforts in restoring the fountain

• Pete Reynolds, Norwood, for his involvement in restoring the fountain

• Larry Ashley, Norwood, for his superb role in helping develop Fountain Park

• The Norwood American Legion for their role in securing a new flag pole and donating a flag

• Mike Tremper, Clarkson University, who introduced the idea of solar power

• The Fort Drum Solar Vets class and their coordinator, Kevin McAdoo, for installing the solar array

• SUNY Canton’s alumni and current engineering students, Mike Tuper, Tyler Willey and Matt Braise, for their voluntary roles in designing the tops of the fountain pumps and for annually opening and closing Fountain Park

• and the numerous Norwood residents who donated money, time and talent.