Clinton fire fighters have best year yet in fill the boot drive for MDA

CLINTON —Fire Fighters took to the streets of Clinton to “Fill the Boot” for the Muscular Dystrophy Association this summer and raised over $3,500 to support families living with muscle disease in southern Wisconsin and to help find treatments and cures for 43 such diseases

Members of the Clinton Fire Department, led by Fire Chief John Rindfleisch, removed their boots at the intersection of Milwaukee and Church streets, as well in downtown Clinton to collect money from motorists and pedestrians for MDA’s annual Fill the Boot campaign.

In just four hours on the evening of Friday, June 19, the Department was able to collect $3,546 – a record high total for the department in their five years of participating in the MDA program.

“We were incredibly excited to work with the Clinton Fire Department again this year,” said Kelsie Hopfensperger, Area Director for MDA in Madison.

“We cannot thank them enough for their dedication and support to both their community and to MDA. It’s always so exciting to see the thrill the members get when they learn how successful their efforts were, and that was no exception this year as they brought in the most donations they’ve ever received in the last five years. They are a wonderful group of men and women.”

The Clinton Fire Department has participated in the Fill the Boot campaign for multiple years and hope to continue to fundraise on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

All donations benefit local MDA clients and services such as sending children and young adults to MDA Summer Camp in Kenosha County, funding clinic visits at UW Hospital, American Family Children’s Hospital and the Dean Neurological Institute and Spine Center, and financing wheelchair repairs.

MDA’s Fill-the-Boot program is supported by fire departments across North America. Last year, Wisconsin fire fighters raised more than $700,000 for MDA.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat more than 43 neuromuscular diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services and far-reaching professional and public health education.

For more information about MDA’s programs and services, call (262) 432-7992.

Courtesy photo

Members of the Clinton Fire Department helped raise $3,500 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association during the annual Fill the Boot drive. From left – Brandon Kadlec, Gabriel Quetell, Michelle Hudson, Jeff London, Rick Peterson and Ian Richardson.