Firefighters raise funds, muscular dystrophy awareness with 'Fill the Boot'

Aug 01, 2023

Franklin firefighters are planning to “Fill the Boot” this weekend to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Submitted photo

A local firefighters union is celebrating around 30 years of fundraising for muscular dystrophy.

Visitors to downtown Franklin are asked to take a moment to stop and help Franklin Career Firefighters Local 3433 “Fill the Boot.”

Union members will be collecting donations this weekend as they participate in a “Fill the Boot” fundraising drive for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, or MDA. Firefighters will be at the corner of Main Street and Jefferson Street on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with firefighter boots in hand to collect donations from the public, said Cole McKnight, president of Franklin Career Firefighters Local 3433.

Since the early 1990s, members of Local 3433 have been donating money and their time for the MDA. Local 3433 is a subsidiary of the International Association of Firefighters, or IAFF, which has partnered with MDA for years for the fundraiser, McKnight said.

Muscular dystrophy is a group of diseases that cause progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass. The MDA is the No. 1 voluntary health organization in the U.S. for people living with muscular dystrophy, ALS and related neuromuscular diseases, and their mission is to empower people living with neuromuscular disease to live longer, more independent lives.

Local 3433 is the only firefighters association in Johnson County that participates in this fundraiser, McKnight said. They have participated every year, even during the coronavirus pandemic, he said.

“Even through COVID, when the MDA was really hurting for the donations they received from these boot drives across the country, we were able to do so and provide them some,” McKnight said.

Each year, Franklin firefighters’ goal is to break the previous record amount, he said. In 2021, Local 3433 was able to collect their largest amount ever: $12,226. However, in 2022, they were about a $1,000 short of breaking the goal, raising $11,344.

This year though, they hope to break their previous record.

“We’re just looking to just break that,” McKnight said. “All that money goes to the MDA.”