During the 2019 MDA Fill the Boot campaign, the members of the Greater Hanover's Professional Firefighters Association Local 2045 took to the streets to help children and adults with muscular dystrophy, ALS and related life-threatening diseases to live longer and grow stronger. Through 2019, more than $21,000 was raised to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).
Firefighters have taken part in MDA's Fill the Boot tradition for more than 60 years, taking to the streets or storefronts to ask pedestrians, motorists, customers and other passersby to make donations to MDA, thereby joining the fight to find treatments and cures for devastating diseases that take away everyday abilities like walking, talking, hugging and even breathing.
Funds raised help MDA's efforts to fund groundbreaking research and life-enhancing programs such as state-of-the-art support groups and Care Centers, including the MDA Care Center at Penn State Hershey Medical Center in Hershey. Funds also help send more than 20 local children to MDA Summer Camp at no cost to their families.
Members of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) participate in the Fill the Boot campaign in support of MDA. In 1954, the IAFF committed by proclamation to support MDA until a cure is found. Since then, the IAFF has raised more than $630 million for MDA.
The IAFF represents more than 300,000 professional firefighters and paramedics who protect 85% of the nation's population. More than 3,200 affiliates and their members protect communities in every state in the United States and in Canada.
MDA seeks to free individuals and their families from the harm of muscular dystrophy, ALS and related muscle-debilitating diseases. MDA aims to find research breakthroughs across diseases, care for individuals from day one and empower families with services and support in hometowns across America. For more information, readers may visit http://www.mda.org.
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