Fill the Boot drive is on for Festival Days

The Havre Fire Department's Fill the Boot drive is on for Festival Days this year from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, a drive for money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and one that the department has been doing at Festival Days for many decades.

A release from the DJ Olson of the Havre Fire Department, and the drive's primary organizer, said people can use Venmo to donate to the cause by finding them at @Havre-Firefighters and using FTB under the "What's it for" in the Venmo app.

"We are always impressed by the support from the community and are thankful for their support," Olson said in the release.

Members of the firefighter union have been holding the Fill the Boot Campaign for more than 60 years, supporting MDA's work including research, supporting care centers and sending children to the Muscular Dystrophy Association Summer Camp.

Havre's firefighters have been raising money for MDA since the drive started in 1954 and the International Association of Fire Fighters is the single largest sponsor for the association, having raised more than $500 million for MDA since the drive began.

The Fill the Boot drive was one of the earliest fundraisers for the association, which was created in 1950, awarding its first research grant that year, the Muscular Dystrophy Association website says.

Perhaps the most familiar fundraiser was the Labor Day telethon, which ran from 1956 through 2014. It started with comedic duo Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin appealing to people to support muscular dystrophy research at the end of their NBC television show in 1951, and then co-hosting a telethon in 1956.

Lewis hosted MDA telethons again in 1957 and 1959, and then in 1966 held the first MDA Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon. That tradition continued until Lewis was unable to continue hosting, and announced his retirement in 2011.

MDA continued the telethon, although in increasingly streamlined formats, from 2011 through 2014, ending the tradition in 2015.

In 1952 National Association of Letter Carriers became the first national sponsor for MDA, holding Deliver the Cure fundraisers.

The Fill the Boot Campaign began in 1954 when a group of families affected by muscular dystrophy approached Local 718 fire station in Boston asking for help. The fire fighters took to the streets with their boots, starting a nationwide tradition and making IAFF the top fundraising association for MDA.