Smith jokingly said he “lost sleep for about four consecutive nights” after last year’s loss and Hamilton vowed to never lose to Fairfield again.
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He proudly Tweeted earlier this week a photo of the traveling trophy showing Hamilton is a two-time Change War champion.
Congratulations City of @HamiltonOh employees. We have won the @BCUW 2018 Change War Challenge against the City of @fairfieldoh! The trophy comes home - at least for the next 12 months. @UnitedWay pic.twitter.com/4juW0iRY8n
— Joshua A. Smith (@Joshua45011) December 5, 2018
City employees donate change over a two-week period. Amounts raised weren’t disclosed, but Smith boasted Hamilton bested Fairfield by a three-to-one margin.
Fairfield City Manager Mark Wendling, with his own tongue-in-cheek response, said while it only won once during the 3-year-old annual challenge, it should have been the two-time defending champs heading into this year’s challenge.
“You need to ask how they won (in the first year),” he said. “Maybe a certain individual up there (made a large donation) at the last minute, on the last day, after they got a two-week extension.”
When asked about that via text, Smith just responded with a smiling sunglasses-wearing Emoji.
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The Change War contributed a few hundred dollars that pushed the contributions of Fairfield and Hamilton employees to the more than $25,000 for the Butler County United Way in this year’s campaign.
The Butler County United Way raised slightly more than $1.8 million, which is more than the 2017 campaign where it was slightly under that threshold.
“It benefits a great cause, and we enjoy the friendly rivalry with Hamilton,” Wendling said.
Smith said the United Way works closely with many of the Hamilton and Fairfield social service agencies and its annual campaign “is something that’s necessary for our communities.”
Butler County United Way President and CEO Mag Baker Smith and Wendling “are very supportive of our efforts” because of the role the agency plays in the county, including Fairfield and Hamilton.
Last year, the Butler County United Way helped 55,000 people in Butler County.
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