‘Boot drive’ is time well spent by firefighters

Gerald C. Weinberg, Tucson, Ariz.

Friday, April 2, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

Regarding the Las Vegas Sun’s Wednesday story, “Practice of on-duty firefighters raising money for charity questioned”:

Since 1961, Southern Nevada firefighters have been orchestrating annual “Fill the Boot” drives to help advance the lifesaving mission of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The public service resulting from this labor of love is nothing short of incredible.

Members of the International Association of Fire Fighters — representing professional firefighters in Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson and Clark County — have raised urgently needed dollars to help MDA speed up research seeking treatments and cures for muscle diseases, while simultaneously helping MDA provide Nevada families affected by neuromuscular diseases with unparalleled health care services.

Thanks in part to funding received through the local firefighter Fill the Boot drive, MDA maintains a clinic at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, and a special summer camp for children affected by neuromuscular diseases at the Nevada 4-H Camp at Lake Tahoe.

Caring Nevada firefighters are part of the 56-year IAFF tradition that’s made MDA the charity of choice for Fill the Boot drives across the nation.

We commend the Clark County commissioners who recently signed a unanimous proclamation supporting MDA and the firefighters’ Fill the Boot drive. They join decades of elected officials in Southern Nevada who have similarly celebrated firefighters taking to the streets for drives benefiting MDA.

The writer is president and CEO of the Muscular Dystrophy Association.