Taunton firefighters Fill the Boot for MDA

As they do every Labor Day weekend, the Taunton Fire Department and its team of volunteers are holding out their boots for help in the fight against muscular dystrophy.

With a total of 100 firefighters and volunteers, the Taunton Fire Department and its supporters are asking for donations from motorists and other passersby coming through downtown Taunton. The group was around the Taunton Green throughout Sunday morning, holding out firefighter boots to collect donations. The volunteers will be out again from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. today, organizers said.

All the proceeds go toward the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which is famous for its long-running nationwide telethons that were once hosted by Jerry Lewis.

Its an exciting time for MDA, said Paul Allison, a Taunton firefighter who helps organize the Taunton effort. They are making a lot of inroads now with all the gene therapy. Its just leaps and bounds. But it costs so much money for scientists to work on this and isolate these things.

Allison said that every little bit helps in the fundraising effort, as research into the disease is expensive and complex, especially because the umbrella of muscular dystrophy covers 43 different muscle diseases.

We have people coming by with change, and several stopping by with $20 bills, Allison said. Usually someone brings a $100. People in Taunton are always very generous. They are good to the fire department and the MDA. We have 100 volunteers over the two days. All the guys have been very supportive.

Taunton firefighters have collected money through the Fill the Boot campaign since 1958, Allison said. The original fill the boot started with a Boston firefighter who had a child with MD, as its called for short, and the model was adopted throughout the country in the 1950s, he said.

Tauntons been at it for a long time, Allison said.

Last year, the Taunton firefighters and their volunteers raised more than $31,000, which was the third largest amount in state for Fill the Boot, last year behind Fall River and Boston, Allison said. That $31,000 also included money raised through a golf tournament and other events, while $14,000 came from the boot collection itself, he said.

Allison said one of the difficulties facing the Fill the Boot campaign nowadays is that many people dont carry cash anymore, just credit and debit cards. But that doesnt stop the Taunton firefighters and their friends from hitting the street, asking others to give to the cause of children with MD.

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Taunton firefighters Fill the Boot for MDA