Suffolk Fire & Rescue and Local 2801 Professional Firefighters presented a $60,200 check to the Muscular Dystrophy Association during Wednesday night’s City Council meeting.

The funds raised came from Suffolk’s annual Fill the Boot campaign that began on May 4. The Fill the Boot campaign consisted of six days of firefighters standing outside with boots asking for donations at various establishments in Suffolk.

“This shows the incredible impact of the MDA Fill the Boot campaign, and thank you Mayor Johnson and City Council for the support,” said Director of MDA of Greater Virginia Stephanie Blazek. “Professional firefighters have supported MDA for 64 years, and we are so happy to have the Suffolk department collecting for us.”

Suffolk Fire & Rescue has been raising money with the Fill the Boot campaign since 1999, and according to Blazek, the department has raised over $700,300 in those years.

The money raised here in Suffolk is returned back to the city to help local families medically and to help those affected “live unlimited.”

“What is raised in Suffolk is returned back into the Suffolk community,” said Pam King of the Suffolk Local 2801 Professional Firefighters.

Two mothers attended the meeting as well to show the direct impact of the Suffolk Fill the Boot campaign. Mandy Williams and Amanda Morean both have young boys — Cole, 8, and Logan, 6 — diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and both of the children are helped with the money raised.

“My son Cole was diagnosed at 2 and he will be 9 in November. Just a few years ago when he got the diagnosis, the doctor told me to take him home and love him because there was nothing we can do,” Williams said. “Well something can be done, and the help from Fill the Boot has put him in a clinical trial that will expand his lifespan. It’s not a cure, but we will take it.”

Muscular dystrophy does not have a cure yet, but there have been strides made clinically to help with symptoms of the many types of the disease.

“We have some tremendous momentum on our side as the FDA has approved six drugs, four of which can be traced to MDA-funded research,” Blazek said.

The money not only goes to clinical research but also helps parents send their children to MDA Summer Camp. At the summer camp, children with muscular dystrophy have the chance to do activities they might otherwise never experience like ziplining, horseback riding and swimming.

“Please continue to support Fill the Boot,” Williams said. “Money goes to the MDA summer camp, which is a week where they can truly live unlimited and do things they are normally not able to do.”