Louisville Fire raises funds for kids with muscular dystrophy through 'Fill the Boot' drive

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The Louisville Fire Department is raising money for kids living with muscular dystrophy.

The annual "Fill the Boot" campaign was started more than 70 years ago through a partnership between the International Association of Firefighters and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Since the first drive in 1954, about $400,000 has been raised locally. All the money goes to research, free care and clinics for families and summer camps specifically tailored to the kids' needs.

"It's very satisfying to be able to do that. I think firefighters by nature are very charitable obviously they give themselves in a lot of different ways and this is just another way that we can do that," Brian O'Neill, chief of the Louisville Fire Department, said. "It does really help when you can see first hand the person that you're helping so it's not some nebulous entity that's somewhere else, it's real people, real families, that are tight here."

The program is pushing for more online donations, as street collections have fallen off over recent years.

Online donations can be made by clicking here.

Former Indiana sheriff charged with tax evasion asks to change his plea

Louisville leaders announce new Jefferson County sheriff, county clerk

Congressman McGarvey urges Education Department to restore $10 million in JCPS grants

Man who killed Versailles boy in his bedroom in 2015 released early from Kentucky prison

Indiana town remembers teen brutally murdered in 2001 as her killer faces execution