MDA Milestone: How ‘Fill the Boot’ Was Born

In 1952, a group of families affected by muscular dystrophy approached a Boston fire station to ask fire fighters from Local 718 to help them fight the disease. Responding enthusiastically, the fire fighters took to the streets with their boots in hand, asking Boston residents to make donations to MDA.

The first Fill the Boot campaign was such a success that, on August 19, 1954, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) membership passed a resolution to support MDA as their national charity. Today, the sight of fire fighters collecting money in their boots is familiar in cities and towns across the nation. Thanks to the generosity of neighbors and passersby, dollars collected in boots over the decades have contributed to game-changing research progress for neuromuscular diseases.

The names of the brave fire fighters in the photo above are lost to history, but we believe they were members of Local 1637 in Belmont, Massachusetts. The picture was probably taken in the 1950s, when fire trucks typically used an open-cab design.

MDA extends our gratitude to all the fire fighters who, for more than 70 years, have not only put themselves on the line to protect lives and property but also supported the effort to find treatments and cures for all neuromuscular diseases.