Mda Ftb

[jccrabby3084]

Just wondering what departments do a fill the boot for MDA or similar agency and how do you do it?

Street corner FTB....use on duty crews or off duty only? Charity motorcycle rides, shamrocks or what.

Just curious.

We do a street corner FTB with off duty personnel one day and we also do a fill the boot at Lambeau Field during a Packer game.

[Kobersteen]

Here with Local 2068, we do Fill The Boot for MDA on duty. We do it the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Labor Day weekend and have been very successful.

2004-$342,000
2005-$462,000 to MDA and $114,500 to IAFF Disaster Relief Fund
2006-$357,000

The biggest thing for us is the tremendous support we get from the Fire Department and the county board who recognize the political benefit of being on board with this.

[jccrabby3084]

Here with Local 2068, we do Fill The Boot for MDA on duty. We do it the Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday of Labor Day weekend and have been very successful.

2004-$342,000
2005-$462,000 to MDA and $114,500 to IAFF Disaster Relief Fund
2006-$357,000

The biggest thing for us is the tremendous support we get from the Fire Department and the county board who recognize the political benefit of being on board with this.

Quick ??? on doing the FTB on duty.....Are you doing at the station or are you taking a rig to an intersection and respond to calls from there? We really only have one station where it could be possible to to an on duty FTB.

[callaway75]

We do MDA fill the boot both on and off duty. When using on duty crews, we also have guys that are off that volunteer to help out. We will usually take a rig out of service and place it and other department vehicles at intersections close together. If we get a working fire, the out of service rig will leave and the off duty guys will stay. We also do fill the boot at other events around the city; block parties, fireworks,carnivals, etc. Once in a while we'll even go around the restaurant/bar district on a friday or saturday night with off duty guys..

[Kobersteen]

Quick ??? on doing the FTB on duty.....Are you doing at the station or are you taking a rig to an intersection and respond to calls from there? We really only have one station where it could be possible to to an on duty FTB.

Take the rig to the intersection and respond to calls from there. The rig helps lend credibility to the cause and enables you to put a big IAFF/MDA banner up on it to make sure people know what it is about.

[NHFD50]

In response to the initial question, we conduct FTB for MDA through the month of June and continue into July if needed. The collection is performed by on-duty career personnel only on Fridays in place of drill and house chores. We've found it best to post at busy intersections utilizing apparatus for shielding/visibility purposes. Our members are allowed to wear whatever station wear they prefer, however I know some depts. that are required to wear bunker pants and helmet. With only 7 guys on duty and running 4500 runs a year we're still able to collect between $6000 and $8000.

And just a note, our very challenged town administration attempted to have us collect money through FTB for a senior center lawn sprinkler system during the 9/11/02 rememberence ceremony. When we of course denied to do this the town restricted us from any type of on-duty FTB for any charity. We fought the rule and we won through past-practice.

[jccrabby3084]

Thanks for the replies...

I really just got involved about 2 years ago wit hour FTB. We have had success, but see where we can do better. My biggest reason is we get to go to the MDA camp in June. Our FF's spend a day with the campers and do a great cookout for them. Truly, this is the best experience out there. It is a great feeling just to go there, but to go back and be remebered is really the best. It is great to see in person the efforts of our work.

As for out FTB
We do a street corner FTB...all off duty personnel. We have to wear traffic vests and have an old antique rig for our banner. The FD doesn't want a rig and crew tied up during this. We also have "spotters" to watch the lights and let us know to get out of the intersection.

We also do a FTB with fans tailgating at Lambeau Field before a Packer game and we do a "Battle of the Badges" Police vs Fire hockey game. But our street corner is the best.

Again thanks for the ideas...much appreciated.

[Geinandputitout]

We have a department of 150 employees and routinely do 35,000 + during our fill the boot drive.

Each of our staffed apparatus (11) is supposed to go out to a preassigned intersection for 2 hours per day on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

We also staff two intersections with off-duty firefighters. I agree with the earlier statement about having a truck lends credibility.

We only boot block at intersections with stop signs, no traffic lights.

We raise 30+ % of our money on Friday night from 3 pm to 6 pm. The more people we can get out that night the higher our grand totatl.

We've also had success by having local restaurants donate a meal to each crew that does boot block for at least 2 hours. Our local MDA folks usually line it up. don't be afraid to ask for stuff from them, they are amazing at lining stuff up.

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

We do a "voluntary toll road" to "fill the boot" for MDA.

Off duty personnel (in uniform) collect at two intersections in the downtown area.

They will swap an hour or two of ime with an on duty firefighter so they can go and collect. We also do a golf tournament for MDA.

Between the 2, we raise around $20 to $25K for MDA.

In 26 years on, I have missed 2 toll road days...