RUMFORD — Five different non-profits and privates applicants in town were recently recipients of grants from the Poland Spring Community Fund.
Town Manager Stacy Carter said members of the Benefit Committee — Jim Rinaldo, Mary Lapointe, John Pepin, Bev Soucy and Theresa Sax — accepted and reviewed applications, and interviewed before selecting the recipients.
Carter announced this year’s recipients as follows:
* The Rumford Senior Citizens, 60 Lowell St., $2,000, for games, puzzles, books and meals for the senior population.
* Black Mountain of Maine requested $17,593, which is 50 percent of the final cost to finish the Allagash wiring project, which will increase the facility’s snowmaking ability at the mountain.
* Friends of the River Valley requested $5,000 — to continue the Long Run and ArtVan programs, both of which were very successful over the past year.
* The Rumford Riders ATV Club received $5,000, some of which is for new signage, and a new kiosk for the park and ride at the top of Falls Hill.
* Beautify Rumford receives $33,000, to be used for 20 large wooden planters to be visible throughout the community, and LED lighted wreaths on the downtown streets and various points in the community.
Carter said these will be put out in place of the live wreaths. “Two years ago, we put up our Christmas decorations that we used perhaps 30 years ago. This shows that we take care of the decorations. They last for many years.”
Carter said Poland Spring Community Fund is part of the community agreement the town has with Poland Spring, which is separated into three different categories.
Four payments of $250,000 each to carry the program forward. That money is to be invested and only use the interest to award different projects that non-profits are doing.
“In order to get some projects funded right away, they gave $50,000 a year for four years. We’re in our fourth year of that. The committee is meeting now to award money for the fourth year, then we’re just going to rely on the interest of the millon dollars going forward,” said Carter.
He said, “The third component of it is that they give $20,000 a year to the town for the length of the agreement to use at our discretion, and that money had not been earmarked earlier for anything. Thus, there will be $80,000 in that account.”

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