Fill the Boot campaign goes virtual
The Oshawa Professional Firefighters Association is hosting its annual Fill the Boot campaign virtually this year on Sept. 4, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Colin Williamson)
By Courtney Bachar/The Oshawa Express/LJI Reporter
Oshawa firefighters are looking to fill their boots virtually this year to raise money for muscular dystrophy.
The Oshawa Professional Firefighters Association had to move its annual Fill the Boot campaign online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve decided to do a virtual boot toll this year because of COVID-19,” says Kevin Dickinson, member of the Oshawa Firefighters Benevolent Committee.
“We don’t want to put the public or our members at risk for transferring this disease.”
Held every year on the Friday before the Labour Day long weekend in September, members of the Oshawa Firefighters Association gather at the entrances and exits of the Oshawa Centre parking lot to collect donations from the community. Funds raised each year go to support Muscular Dystrophy of Canada, a charity Dickinson says Oshawa firefighters, along with firefighters all across North America, have been supporting for decades.
“People in Oshawa are very generous,” he says, noting the one-day campaign blitz raises approximately $30,000 each year.
“Over the course of our support, we’ve raised millions of dollars for muscular dystrophy both in Canada and the United States.”
Dickinson notes Oshawa firefighters do things a bit different as they donate half the money raised to muscular dystrophy, and the other half is donated and spread out over various local charities, including the Lakeridge Health Cancer Centre, Simcoe Hall Settlement House, Oshawa Senior Community Centres, Grandview Children’s Centre, and Hearth Place.
“We’re always happy to give back,” says Dickinson. “One of the advantages to doing what we do, our membership is very community driven and very generous, so every dollar we bring in goes right back and is dispersed back out into the community, as well as to Muscular Dystrophy of Canada.”
Continuing with a decades-long tradition, this year’s Fill the Boot campaign will be held on Sept. 4, which is the Friday before the Labour Day long weekend.
“The city has been extremely generous in the past and we’re hoping everyone will be able to find us online on September 4th and donate whatever they can give and we’ll make sure that it gets to those in need.”