Commitment and Passion for Volunteering: A Family Affair

Doug and Angela Britton

Doug Britton has been a dedicated MDA volunteer since 2011 when he spent his first summer as a counselor at MDA Summer Camp. His commitment to serving others and passion towards making a positive impact on the world are key values that he is instilling in his children. The father of three and his wife, Angela, recognize that volunteer work provides an opportunity for their children to develop a higher level of kindness, compassion, humility, and desire to be of service. They have built their family around these values – with a passion for serving the neuromuscular disease community at its core.

“Our experiences volunteering for MDA have shaped my family priorities,” Doug says. “We embrace each other’s desires to find ways to creatively be of service – the concept of giving and being of service are visceral parts of our family fabric.”

Falling in love with MDA Summer Camp

Doug, an Army Veteran and co-founder of a cyber security company, first learned about MDA Summer Camp when he began dating Angela. When they met, she worked as a manager of clinical operations for muscular dystrophy research at the Children’s Hospital in Washington D.C. and had been volunteering at camp for eight or nine years. Doug is quick to admit that he initially signed up as a counselor to impress his now wife. While romantic love initially inspired him to become a volunteer, it was his experiences with the youth at camp that kept him coming back year after year.

“I fell in love with the community and the kids. I learn so much from the kids each year – from the latest slang to gaining a powerful perspective from being able to witness the grace with which these youngsters meet challenges,” Doug says. “Camp is something that is unlike anything else. It is truly magical.”

Doug and Nick at MDA Summer Camp

Doug still keeps in touch with his camper from that very first year, a young man named Nick who lives with SMA Type 2 and is now a successful software developer. While he has a number of stories from camp that make him chuckle, there are also profoundly impactful moments and lessons that he cherishes from his time spent providing service to meet the daily needs of campers. Those moments have shaped and humbled him in ways that add value to his view of his own life.

“When I look back on my life, I want to know that I was of service to those around me. And I like being able to be of service in a way that is inglorious and is the kind of thing some people might shy away or run away from,” he says. “Being able to meet even the most vulnerable need of another person with dignity and kindness is what is important to me about being a human.”

And as a parent, he hopes to share those lessons with his children, not only through them hearing about him and his wife’s volunteer efforts, but also through volunteering their own time and gaining their own experiences.

Instilling values of volunteerism

Angela and Doug have compelled their three children, Daniel (16), Dexter (12), and Bella (10), to commit to at least one summer volunteering at MDA Summer Camp once they are of age. Next year, Dan will be eligible to volunteer alongside his father at camp. While Doug hopes that they will want to continue volunteering at camp after their first year, he also wants to allow them the opportunity to pursue volunteer roles of their own choosing.

“I am confident in their service-mindedness, so even if camp isn’t what they continue to do, they will grab onto something and commit themselves,” Doug says. “But there are so many reasons that it is important to me that I bring them to camp. It’s important to me that they get comfortable with people who are different from them, that they put themselves in the service of others in the humblest way possible, and that they see that there is an ability to make a connection with someone and with a group that is richer than you can even imagine.”

The Britton family and friends

As a parent, Doug recognizes that it is his job to prepare his children to be successful in the myriad of circumstances that life is going to throw at them, and he wants them not only to be prepared but to be confident and compassionate. Pulling from his own experiences at camp, Doug places importance on his children also volunteering at camp because he wants them to gain confidence and experience in putting the needs of someone else before their own.  He teaches his children that the actions in life that can truly drive outcomes and positively change lives require you to serve others and to put yourself in uncomfortable situations, navigating both with kindness, compassion, and humility.

“I want my kids to have the confidence to be comfortable in what might initially feel uncomfortable, as they work with fellow humans in a decent and kind way. And this experience really sets them up to gain those skills and to grow as people. Being of service to your fellow human and subjugating your wants and desires to what someone else needs is important,” Doug says. “To put your resources and marshal all of your creativity and capability and the parts of who you are into providing a voluntary service is incredible. Things like that are how people change the world.”

Paving the path forward

In addition to donating his time and talents as a volunteer at MDA Summer Camp, Doug is raising awareness and funds for neuromuscular research as a member of the MDA’s Team Momentum at the NYC marathon. This will be his second year running the marathon, after raising $7000 last year.

Having witnessed Angela’s work with some of the scientists who have been foundational in shifting the treatment landscape for the NMD community and observing MDA’s influence in creating a model that drives progress, Doug is passionate about supporting MDA’s mission. His participation in the marathon also provides him an opportunity not only to teach his children about perseverance, but to model it for them in real time.

Doug at the NYC marathon

“I was never someone who was compelled to run a marathon. I am not naturally, physically gifted at all. But my kids have a lot of gifts and when I saw what they were physically capable of, and also saw them get impatient with some of the challenges required to keep growing and be competitive, I saw an opportunity to teach them grit using my body as a canvas,” Doug says. “I want to show them how to get good at something that yesterday was impossible, but today is not impossible because of sheer will. That has been my commitment – that they can watch someone become capable of anything. I would never have qualified for the NYC marathon, but by fundraising I am able to have a slot. Which perfectly aligns with my love of MDA.”

Doug shares that there are early indicators that his lessons are working, as his kids push through their own runs and challenges. He celebrates every one of those little victories as a brick in the wall towards building and becoming stronger people.  And seeing his family at the finish line last year made all of the personal challenges that he overcame to achieve his goal, including injuries and shin splints, worth it.

A commitment to service

When it comes to instilling perseverance and a value for volunteerism, Doug believes that parents need to serve as a model in order for those lessons to truly take shape in their children.

“For it to really take hold in your child’s psyche and in their id and their soul, it takes investment from the parent,” he says. “There are different lessons to learn at the camps that I am compelling my kids to volunteer at – but I am going to be there, too. I will help frame the lens that they look at the experience through. And I believe that the outcome is very different than if I just shipped my kid off and said, “Hey, go do good. Good job,” versus standing right next to them providing delicate services to a person that needs your help. You have abdicated influence over how this takes root in your child’s soul.”

Doug and camper, Austin, making memories at MDA Summer Camp

And as a co-founder of his company, RunSafe Security, Inc., Doug’s ability to influence the value of volunteerism in others reached beyond just his own family. Early in the partnership, Doug informed his co-founder, Joe Saunders, that he would need a week off each summer to go to camp. The two decided to create a policy within their company that all employees are eligible for a paid week off of work to provide volunteer services. Inspired by Doug’s volunteer work with MDA, the company has created a culture of support for people embracing volunteerism in their own lives.

Through the many days training for marathons, weeks of volunteering at camp, and years spent fostering a passion for service unto others in his family, Doug finds that his experiences have served him well in defining a life well lived and well loved. “I come away from this feeling like I am the big winner,” he says. “The things I have gotten out of my collaboration with the MDA community will echo with my family for the next eighty years, regardless of if I am alive or not. And I am so excited that long after I am gone, this is what is going to echo.”