After taking a year off last year because of construction, Manitowoc Firefighters were out last week collecting donations for the Fill the Boot campaign.
The firefighters stood at the intersection of 10th and Franklin and collected money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Fire Department Paramedic Ben Molnar has been representing the department in the campaign for the last year and a half and he says the donations raise money to help develop new drugs to treat muscular dystrophy.
He also noted that donations will allow “the kids get to go to a week-long camp that’s specifically for them. It’s catered to their needs and everything and every $30 raised sends a kid to camp.”
Molnar says muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder that causes newborn children to lose muscle mass over time.
He says before drugs were developed, the average lifespan of someone who had muscular dystrophy was only two years.
“Since then, MDA has been one of the only foundations that has its own critical research teams,” Molnar explained. “They have 22 approved medications and just this spring we met with a bunch of kids who are going to college because of the medications that have been approved by the FDA.”
The fire department’s goal was to raise $10,000 while boots were being filled Friday and Saturday.
The fire department says they didn’t reach their goal but they did raise $9,177 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
