As the COVID-19 pandemic affects communities across the United States, it has also impacted in-person fundraising for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). For 66 years, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has collected critical funds in the community – one dollar at a time – as part of the Fill the Boot program. But this year, due to social distancing, that is not possible.
This summer, the Owosso Firefighters L504 Fill the Boot campaign will be conducted virtually at filltheboot.donordrive.com/Participant/L0504.
Donations collected by Owosso Firefighters L504 will help meet the urgent need for the MDA’s Frontline COVID-19 Emergency Fund to continue services for people living in our community with neuromuscular diseases.
“For six decades, IAFF members have been at intersections across America with their fire boots to collect donations for MDA,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “But the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing make that an impossibility. Virtual Fill the Boot will let our members continue to collect to help the MDA meet their vital mission of finding treatment and cures for muscular dystrophy, ALS and other neuromuscular diseases.”
“IAFF members display an unwavering support for MDA year after year, raising critical funds and awareness to help our families get the care they need,” says MDA CEO and President Lynn O’Connor Vos. “We are so thankful to IAFF and the Owosso Firefighters L504 for continuing their commitment to cure neuromuscular disease and for the flexibility to go virtual through this pandemic to protect everyone on the frontlines in our communities.”
