East Pierce Fire and Rescue firefighers will be collecting donations for the Muscular Dystrophy Association through the annual “Fill the Boot” campaign.

Firefighters will be on public streets at the following times and places:

• from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the corner of Valley Avenue and Main Street in Sumner;

• from 7:30 to 9 a.m. July 29 and noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 4 at Ninth Street East and 182nd Avenue East in Lake Tapps;

• from noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 4 at Valley Avenue and Main Street in Sumner;

• from noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 5 at Sumner-Buckley Highway East and Locust Avenue in Bonney Lake;

• from noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 15 at 192nd Avenue East and state Route 410 in Bonney Lake.

The Fill the Boot campaign, sponsored by East Pierce Professional Firefighters Local 3520, raises funds to assist families affected by muscular dystrophy in the Sumner, Lake Tapps and Bonney Lake communities.

The money will be used to fund support group sessions; cover the cost of clinical diagnostic exams; send children to summer camp for a week at YMCA Camp Seymour in Gig Harbor; fund research; and help purchase and repair wheelchairs, leg braces and communication devices prescribed by MDA physicians.

MDA is a voluntary health agency founded in 1950 to fight 43 neuromuscular diseases, including ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, which affects millions of Americans. The term muscular dystrophy describes a group of diseases characterized by the degeneration of voluntary muscles.