July 10, 2014 at 1:05 p.m.
Rhinelander firefighters fill the boot for MDA
Rhinelander firefighters fill the boot for MDA
The crew is set up at the intersection of County Road W and Stevens Street collecting contributions from motorists.
The campaign will continue through Saturday. Firefighters will be posted at the intersection between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. each day.
The firefighters are familiar to many fans heading out to the Hodag Country Festival, the group has been participating in the Fill-the-Boot campaign at that location for the last five years.
"This is our sixth year doing Fill-the-Boot. What we do is we collect money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association," Rhinelander Fire Department Lieutenant Aaron Swaney said. "It's a good program. Most of the money we collect goes right to people in Oneida County, which is roughly about 63 people (with muscular dystrophy) here in the county."
The goal is to raise around $12,000, Swaney said. "The last few years, we've made a little over $12,000 each time, so hopefully we can make a little bit more this year."
Miranda Knudson, fundraising coordinator for MDA, said the money goes to help families with their clinic visits, therapy and equipment repairs.
"The money goes to support our families with clinic visits and things like that," she said. "We help our families come to our clinics free of charge and they get to see their neurologist and their physical therapist, they get to talk to nurses and visit support groups, and it's all in one day because transportation can be an issue for our families, so we make it a one-stop shop for them."
"We also do wheelchair repairs and things like that," she added.
The money also goes to support a camp for kids during the summer.
"The biggest and coolest thing that we support is our MDA summer camp," Knudson said. "We have about 40 kids that come from our district ... and it's the best week of the year, they say. They get to go fishing. We have dances and prom. We have people come in to play music. We have pontoon boat rides and people have donated canoes for the kids. It's a lot of fun. They just get to be kids."
According to Knudson, the Rhinelander campaign is one of the best.
"It's incredible. It really is. Rhinelander has, honestly, one of the best and friendly Fill-the-Boots I've ever attended," Knutson said. "Everyone is so generous. It's great. It's an overwhelming feeling for me and especially for our families. To know that all of these people, even if it's just a dollar, their hearts in it and you can really tell they care."
That makes it easy for the firefighters to get out there with their boots.
"Even when people just throw change in there, it really makes a big difference by the end of the week. We'll end up with $500 or so of change, so it does add up," Swaney said. "Everyone's really happy to do it. Everyone likes doing it, so we're glad we can help with the cause."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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