Community Corner

Get Ready to Fill the Boot: Firefighters Collecting Donations Tuesday

The 13th annual Boot Drive for the Burn Institute is taking place all over the county on April 3.

Planning on driving around town tomorrow? Take some cash with you and get ready to fill up some boots.

The annual Firefighter Boot Drive for the Burn Institute takes place tomorrow on 100 street corners across San Diego County, including a couple here in Encinitas. The drive, which is in its 13th year, benefits the Burn Institute, a nonprofit health agency dedicated to reducing the number of burn injuries and deaths in San Diego, Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The Boot Drive is sponsored by the San Diego–Imperial County Fire Fighters Advisory Council to the Burn Institute and the San Diego County Fire Chiefs’ Association. Firefighters will take the streets with firesuit boots to collect your donations. All of the funds raised through the Boot Drive will stay in San Diego County and the top fire department from each region will win the Burn Institute’s highly-coveted bronze Boot Drive trophy.

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According to a Burn Institute press release, James Floros, the Burn Institute Executive Director and CEO said that this Boot Drive and the firefighters who volunteer their time for it are critical to the funding of the institute.

“The Boot Drive has become one of the Institute’s most successful events,” Floros said. ”The fire service really is the backbone of this organization. As a team we can do great things for the community.”

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Last year, Burn Institute raised nearly $210,000 during the boot drive. Proceeds benefit Burn Institute fire and burn prevention education programs and burn survivor support programs such as Camp Beyond the Scars for burn-injured children, 5-17 years.

Want to put some money in the boot? Here are the collection locations in our community: 

  •  El Camino Real & Encinitas Blvd.
  • El Camino Real & Leucadia Blvd.


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