Firefighters with the Cortez Fire Protection District were recently very pleased with the boots full of money donated during the Labor Day Fill the Boot campaign.
Firefighters stood on Main Street in Cortez over the holiday weekend holding boots out for passersby to fill with money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
And this week, the totals were in.
“We were able to collect $3,762,” said Firefighter Roger Beckermeyer.
That number is more than $1,500 over last year’s campaign.
“I’m really happy,” Beckermeyer said.
One boot was filled entirely with change
“That was nearly $368 just in change,” he said.
Local firefighters have been participating in the campaign for MDA for about 20 years.
When asked why he thinks the campaign did better this year, Beckermeyer, a former financial analyst, wasn’t sure.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said. “I can’t contribute it to anything, other than maybe the possibility of the economy getting better.”
Next year, Beckermeyer has plans to do the Fill the Boot campaign the weekend before Labor Day weekend and he plans to send fire engines to three different locations and take them off the street.
“Instead of doing it on main street, we are going to take trucks and have people at the Farmers Market, City Market and Wal-Mart,” Beckermeyer said.
Beckermeyer is hoping this will make the event safer.
“It isn’t safe to have people on the street,” he said. “Taking it into parking lots, it will be a better option for us.”
All the money raised in the Fill the Boot Campaigns goes to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Firefighters have been doing this for nearly 60 years across the nation.