Off-duty Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue firefighters will take to the streets next week to once again Fill the Boot for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

TVF&R’s team of volunteers will ask passing motorists to drop a donation into their fire boots on Monday, May 16, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway near the Highway 217 on ramp in Beaverton; Tuesday, May 17, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the Wilsonville Road and Interstate 5 ramps near the Wilsonville Fred Meyer parking lot; and again Saturday, May 21 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Bridgeport Road and Lower Boones Ferry Road intersection in Tigard. A table will also be set up that Saturday in the Bridgeport Village shopping center.

Funds raised through TVF&R’s 2016 Fill the Boot event support MDA’s life-enhancing programs, including support groups and clinics, and assist families with medical equipment and costs. They also make MDA summer camp possible so kids with muscle diseases can enjoy a week of fun activities while gaining confidence and independence.

For 13-year-old Jordyn Valdez, the 2016 MDA Oregon goodwill ambassador, summer camp is an activity she looks forward to every year.

“What’s great about summer camp is there are a lot of people like me there, which kind of is like a distraction from the hardships of having MD because everybody’s the same there and nobody really talks about what they can’t do,” Valdez said. “It’s what they can do that’s really important.”

MDA serves more than 1,500 families across the state of Oregon and Southwest Washington with over 150 families in the TVF&R service area who are affected by muscular dystrophy.

For the past 62 years, firefighters have fueled MDA’s mission to find treatments and cures for life-threatening muscle diseases. Muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other related diseases take away people’s ability to walk, move, smile, talk, and even breathe.

TVF&R firefighters invite the community to join them in filling the boot for MDA. Cash and checks made payable to MDA will be accepted at the three collection events. Secure online donations can also be made by clicking on the link below.