Meridian Township firefighters had their first Fill the Boot fundraiser of the year at the Celebrate Meridian festival. The campaign works to raise money to find a cure for muscular dystrophy.
Firefighters come out with boots asking for donations in an effort to fill them with cash.
"We do the best that we can," says Meridian firefighter Sam Gwinn, "sometimes we have to change boots and at the end it gets all tallied up and we put it towards the muscular dystrophy association."
This is the first time mid-Michigan has seen a Fill the Boot since September, when firefighter Dennis Rodeman was killed in a hit-and-run while asking for donations.
It wasn't because of Rodeman's death that this event took place in a parking lot, though. The Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union (MPFFU) Vice President and Muscular Dystrophy Association liaison Monty Nye said that all the precautions were taken back in September and they will be taken again when fire departments in mid-Michigan hit the streets in July.
Today was just the firefighters taking advantage of a beautiful day with tons of people at the festival.
The firefighters will tally the cash at the end of the festival and all the proceeds will go to the MDA.
