WS Chronicle

Thanking Firefighters

To The Editor,

We want to thank and recognize the Winston-Salem Fire Department for their continued support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and their commitment to MDA’s annual Fill the Boot fundraising campaign. The funds raised with their Fill the Boot campaigns will help transform the lives of local kids and adults with muscular dystrophy, ALS and related muscle-debilitating diseases. We were thrilled to work with these firefighters for another year of Fill the Boot to help provide the funds needed to find treatments and cures for muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases that severely limit strength and mobility. The dedication of these firefighters to MDA’s mission is unwavering, they spend countless hours both with Fill the Boot and MDA Summer Camp to care for the kids and adults in our local communities. We know that their devotion to our families has made a major impact.

Continuing a 65-year tradition of giving strength to the MDA community, the dedicated firefighters from Winston-Salem Fire Department raised $7,766 at their Fill the Boot events in April and May. These funds will help MDA save lives and lift those up in need, by providing the MDA with vital resources to advance their mission of driving innovations in science and care for the neuromuscular community. Contributions have helped fund groundbreaking research and life-enhancing programs such as state-of-the-art support groups and Care Centers, including the MDA Care Center at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem.

They also helped to send 105 local kids to “the best week of the year” at MDA summer camp at Victory Junction in Randleman – all at no cost to their families. 

The partnership between firefighters and MDA began in 1954 with the first Fill the Boot and their unwavering commitment to MDA has remained strong to this day. As MDA’s largest national partner, firefighters across the country have raised more than $650 million for the MDA to date. Today the partnership is finding new ways to save lives by working to expand newborn screenings in the U.S. with Pompe disease or Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), so that they can be immediately eligible for lifesaving and life changing therapies. Over the past five years, MDA has experienced some unprecedented progress toward new treatments with the accelerated research that has been made possible by dedicated and passionate firefighters throughout the country. 

MDA of Greater Carolinas

Fill Boot Team

Charlotte