Consumers Ohio Water and Geneva High School Teen Institute to Receive Award in Columbus.

Business Editors

GENEVA, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 20, 2000

Consumers Ohio Water Company and the Geneva High School Teen Institute Program, a component of the Geneva Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, have been selected to receive an Ohio Parents for a Drug Free Youth Red Ribbon Community Service Award for organizing Geneva-Area Community Day.

Only three groups statewide were selected to receive this award.

Ohio Parents for Drug Free Youth is a not for profit organization that provides leadership, fosters networks in order to promote safe & drug free communities, and serve as a resource to groups throughout Ohio. The emphasis for the 2000 Red Ribbon Celebration is on community service as a prevention strategy for youth.

To qualify for the award, the community project had to reflect a desire for a safe, healthy, and drug free community and involve young people.

Recipient's of the award were selected based on the following criteria: a relationship to one or more of the eight outcomes of the Vision for a Drug Free Community, involvement of youth in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of project, and involvement of diverse community groups. Geneva-Area Community Day met all of these criteria.

Geneva-Area Community Day, a family-oriented event held in May, raised funds for the Geneva Safe & Drug Free Schools Program's training and education efforts as well as exposed the community to the mission of the program.

Specifically, the funds raised helped send four high school students to the Ohio Teen Institute this summer where they obtained the skills needed to promote a safe and drug-free environment in their schools and community.

According to Pat Simpson, director of the Geneva Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, "Although we had several community projects this year, Geneva-Area Community Day was the most noteworthy for our program. The event was a perfect fit to the Vision for a Drug Free Community and would not have been a success without the efforts of the entire community - school, business, service, and church - especially Consumers Ohio Water Company and Father Tobin of the Geneva Ministerial Association. We are very honored to have been chosen for this award and the students are looking forward to attending the presentation ceremony."

Students from the Teen Institute Program, along with COWC employees will accept the award in Columbus on October 16 during the Statewide Red Ribbon Celebration Kickoff.

COWC, Ohio's largest investor-owned water utility, serves nearly 240,000 people in 42 communities statewide. Locally, the Lake Shore Division serves over 100,000 people in Lake and Ashtabula Counties. COWC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Philadelphia Suburban Corporation (NYSE:PSC) headquartered in Bryn Mawr, PA.