Every year the city of New Carlisle, Ohio, hosts the Heritage of Flight Festival. This year's festival will feature a new ceremony. The first responders in the New Carlisle community organized an event called the Blessing of the Badges.
According to New Carlisle News, firefighter Jerry Meddock, a big proponent of the event, got the idea for the Blessing of the Badges when he saw a similar event on a family vacation in Michigan. He doubles as his department's chaplain, and he has invited first responders to come and get their badges blessed on Oct. 4 during the town's festival.
"We never know when we start a shift, whether it's fire or EMS or police work, if we're going to be able to come home that night," Meddock told the news source.
Meddock's blessing will ask for good luck and safety for all firefighters, police officers and emergency medical service workers in attendance. He and the other organizers told New Carlisle News that all first responders, not just locals, were welcome to participate.
The Blessing of the Badges will take place at New Carlisle's Main Street Stage from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.