Last week, nearly four dozen upstanding community leaders were locked up in jail.

Business owners, prominent citizens and firefighters volunteered to serve a sentence in lockup Thursday. Even a few police officers, who typically find themselves on the other side of the long arm of the law, were behind bars holding up numbered signs for the camera.

The inmates were incarcerated in a conference room at the Hilton Garden Inn, calling friends and family members until they could raise $2,000 to post bond. Fortunately, they were given more than one phone call.

All the money they raised went to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, an organization that provides services and funds research for more than 40 debilitating illnesses that fall within its purview.

The services provided include a summer camp for children with muscular dystrophy and related diseases. Each child at more than 90 summer camps across the country (including Alaska and Hawaii) attends at no cost to his or her family. Camp activities are specially designed to allow children to do things at camp they may never be able to do elsewhere — including horseback riding, swimming and archery.

Support groups coordinated by MDA also help thousands of people connect and find friendship and inspiration for living with the neuromuscular diseases.

We thank the inmates from last week’s lockup for giving of their time to make a difference. If you didn’t get a call to help them post bond, a donation form or more information can be found at www.mdausa.org.