Crime & Safety

Firefighters Fill the Boot Campaign Back On Starting Monday

Members of the Greenfield Fire Department will be collecting donations at the corner of 76th Street and Layton Avenue on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Greenfield Fire Department and the Greenfield Professional Firefighters Local IAFF 1963 will give their Fill the Boot fundraiser another try today, Tuesday and Wednesday.

The but postponed because of extreme weather.

The firefighters will remove their boots to collect money from motorists and pedestrians from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day at the intersection of Layton Avenue and 76th Street. All proceeds will go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and its clients and services like sending children and young adults to MDA Summer Camp in Camp Lake, funding clinic visits at Froedtert Memorial Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and financing wheelchair repairs.

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The department raised more than $30,000 last year and hopes to surpass that during this year’s collection.

Jacob Smith, the 2011 Southeastern Wisconsin Goodwill Ambassador will visit the fire fighters during the lunch hour of collection days. Smith, 10has spinal muscular atrophy.

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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 fire fighters raised $600,000 for MDA.

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

Realizing the potential that fire fighters 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 – all to benefit Jerry’s kids.


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