St. Cloud Firefighters Lacing Up for First Fill the Boot of 2026 at Runnings

(KNSI) – St. Cloud firefighters are lacing up their boots for a good cause this weekend.

Members of St. Cloud Professional Firefighters IAFF Local 464 will be stationed at Runnings in east St. Cloud Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the first Fill the Boot event of 2026 to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Crews will be on hand from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, greeting customers. Donations of any size are welcomed and go directly to support individuals and families living with muscular dystrophy, ALS and related neuromuscular diseases. Organizers say the funds help pay for research, medical care, support services and MDA summer camps for children.

The Fill the Boot campaign is one of the longest-running charitable partnerships in the country. It began in 1954 when the International Association of Fire Fighters designated MDA as its charity of choice, and firefighters have been collecting donations in their turnout boots ever since. The campaign has raised more than $700 million nationwide over the past seven decades, with the IAFF contributing more to MDA than any other organization in the world.

___