Dallas Firefighters Want You To 'Fill the Boot' For MDA
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Starting today expect to see members of Dallas Fire Rescue, standing at busy street corners, collecting money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
The annual Fill the Boot fundraising campaign is underway and for the next three days firefighters will be fanned out across the city to accept donations.
"They'll be at intersections. You'll see, typically, four firefighters to an intersection, dressed in their uniforms, they'll be on duty," explained Dallas Firefighters Association president Robert Valles. "Everyone of them will be carrying a boot that should an apparatus there with some signage on it for Muscular Dystrophy."
Last year DFR collected some 357,000 for MDA, but apparently that bar has been raised.
"We've set a little bit higher goal," said Valles. "From 2010 to 2011 we increased our collections by about $50,000, a little over $50,000. We're hoping if the weather is nice we can meet our goal of $400,000."
The money raised during the campaign will benefit Texas medical research and nearly 3,000 North Texas families affected by a neuromuscular disease.
In 2011, firefighters across the country raised some $3.5 million for MDA, with Dallas firefighters contributing 10-percent of that total.
"Dallas firefighters have been helping MDA raise money since mid-to late 70s," said Valles. "Firefighters across the nation have been filling the boot for Muscular Dystrophy since 1954."
In addition to supporting local MDA clinics money raised during the campaign will also fund services like neuromuscular disease support groups, medical equipment repair and summer camps for children.
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