PALESTINE —
The Palestine Fire Department and the Muscular Dystrophy Association teamed up this year to raise money to help families in East Texas living with neuromuscular disease.
The Palestine Fire Department hit an all time high this year raising a total of $7,647 for MDA and the families the organization serves. Firefighters filled their boots at the intersection of Loop 256 and Trail Hollow Lane in front of Wal-Mart recently.
“The Palestine Fire Department would like to thank the citizens of Palestine for their generous donations,” a news release said. “The Palestine Fire Department would not be able to help MDA help so many local MDA families without Palestine citizens’ support. MDA and the Palestine Fire Department would also like to thank the City of Palestine for supporting our efforts to eradicate neuromuscular disease.”
About Fill the Boot
“Fill the Boot” is a 58 year-old tradition, which began when a father of two sons with muscular dystrophy sought the help of his local firefighters; a canister drive that raised $5,000. The money collected over the past 58 years has funded breakthrough research, clinics, summer camp, and medical equipment for thousands of kids and adults. In a sad twist of irony, both founders of the Fill the Boot campaign, two of the Nevada firefighters who took those first boots out themselves in 1954, succumbed to neuromuscular disease. Since then “Fill the Boot” has become one of MDA’s biggest fundraisers and a nationwide effort raising over $400 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, a non-profit organization whose funding comes solely from individual and corporate donations. In 2011 fire fighters from East Texas raised more than $165,000 for patients with neuromuscular diseases.
About MDA
MDA is the nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases by funding worldwide research. The Association also provides comprehensive healthcare and support services, advocacy and education. See the award-winning MDA “Make A Muscle, Make A Difference” PSA.
In addition to funding more than 300 research projects worldwide, MDA maintains a national network of some 200 hospital-affiliated clinics; orchestrates hundreds of support groups for families affected by neuromuscular diseases; facilitates extraordinary local summer camp opportunities for thousands of youngsters fighting progressive muscle diseases. Known globally for the MDA Labor Day Telethon, the Association is the first nonprofit organization to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Medical Association “for significant and lasting contributions to the health and welfare of humanity.”
Throughout East Texas, MDA provides excellent medical care to nearly 400 local families affected by any of 43 different neuromuscular diseases from the MDA clinics.
For more information on MDA or the Palestine Fill-the-Boot you can visit www.mda.org or contact Candace Pate at cbpate@mdausa.org.
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Related Photos
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Members of the Palestine Fire Department, from left, firefighter Devon Jackson, firefighter J.P. Manley and PFD Fill the Boot Coordinator Roy Patterson present a check for a total of $7,647 for MDA and the families the organization serves to MDA Fundraising Coordinator Candace Pate, right. Courtesy Photo
Discussion
Firefighters raise $7,647 for MDA
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