For more than half a century, Canadian Firefighters have been raising money for the fight against muscular dystrophy. This is a charity they have supported even before their curling competitions began.

At the 50th annual Canadian Firefighters Curling Championship this past week in Charlottetown, they continued the tradition of that support.

At the closing banquet, where Team Saskatchewan was awarded their gold medals for winning the championship, co-conveners Peter MacDonald and Winston Bryan announced the result of their fund raising efforts. They presented Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s Atlantic representative Shelley MacWilliams with a cheque for $17,500.

MacWilliams came to the microphone and declared herself speechless at the amount of money PEI firefighters had raised. She praised firefighters across Canada for their support calling them local heroes who give hope to thousands of Canadians with muscular dystrophy.

Firefighters across the Island raised the money over the past year through dozens of events like boot drives, raffles and many other community-based activities.

Since 1954, Canadian firefighters have raised more than 64 million dollars for Muscular Dystrophy.

For more information on the Canadian Firefighters Curling Association, visit www.cffca.ca

For more information on Muscular Dystrophy, visit www.muscle.ca