Firefighters Stuffing Boots with Money for a Good Cause

The Greendale Fire Department will go beyond the call of duty the next two weeks when they once again join in the battle against neuromuscular disease.

The Greendale Fire Department and local 1777 will stand at the corner of 76th Street and Grange Avenue with their boots in hand to collect money from motorists and pedestrians for the Muscular Dystrophy Association on July 27 and August 3 from 2:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

All donations will benefit local MDA clients and services like sending children and young adults to MDA Summer Camp in Kenosha County, funding clinic visits at Froedtert and Children’s Hospital clinics, and financing wheelchair repairs. 

MDA’s Fill-the-Boot program is supported by the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) and non-union fire departments across North America. Last year, Wisconsin firefighters raised $600,000 for MDA. 

The tradition began in 1952, when a father in desperate need ran to IAFF member George Graney’s Fire Engine Company 1 in South Boston. IAFF Local 718 immediately rounded up 20 firefighters and set in motion a door-to-door canister drive that raised $5,000. 

Realizing the potential that firefighters had to offer the cause and their excellent image in the community, Graney approached and persuaded other IAFF members to support MDA. In August 1954, IAFF named MDA as their “charity of choice” and their signature fundraising activity has been the MDA Fill-the-Boot drive. The IAFF has emerged as the single-largest sponsor of MDA, contributing nearly $300 million since 1954.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat 43 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services and far-reaching professional and public health education. For more information about MDA’s programs and services, call (262) 432-7992.