Marquette City Fire Department prepares to Fill the Boot

MARQUETTE — This weekend, members of the Marquette City Fire Department will be in several different locations around the city to raise funds for the annual Fill the Boot campaign for the International Association for Fire Fighters.

All of the funds raised during this tradition go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and it is a yearly tradition that shows just how generous the Marquette community can be.

“It feels great to get out into our community and see what a great community we have here in Marquette and how generous the people are to donate,” said Brett Beaudry, a fire fighter and paramedic with the Marquette City Fire Department. “Each year we raise over $12,000, and that’s one of the top 3 in the state every year, and that’s competing with the likes of Detroit and Lansing, and those bigger cities. So to show how generous the people here in Marquette are, that’s a really great feeling.”

Filling the boot started in Boston back in 1954 when a fire fighters child was diagnosed with a muscular disease, and since then it has grown and become a tradition.

“We’re actually the biggest contributor to the MDA fund,” Beaudry said. “Since 1954, the International Association of Fire Fighters has raised $602 million. And that money goes towards research to help find cures for new diseases, it goes towards sending kids to camp, and anything the MDA fund might need.”

The Marquette City Fire Department will be out on Friday afternoon from 2 until 6 p.m. on the corners of Cleveland and McClellan, and Third and Hewitt. And they will be at the corners of Pine and Fair, Third and Hewitt, and Front and Washington on Saturday from noon until 4 p.m.