More than 50 Years of NALC Support for MDA

http://www.nalc.org/commun/mda/mdahist.html

Millions to fight Muscular Dystrophy

The Porch Light Brigade

The NALC embraced the Muscular Dystrophy Association as its "official charity" in 1952, becoming the first official national sponsor of the group founded in 1950. The union's first nationally coordinated campaign to raise funds for MDA came during Thanksgiving Week in 1953, when tens of thousands of letter carriers in more than 800 cities returned to their routes for a second time after completing their holiday-heavy mail deliveries. The all-volunteer effort was called "The Letter Carrier March for Muscular Dystrophy."


In 1954, through the efforts of letter carriers in Chicago, a grant of $28,102.75 was presented to the University of Chicago College of Medicine for research on Muscular Dystrophy. In the picture Dr. Ralph W. Gerard, professor of neurophysiology, accepts check from NALC's Chicago Branch 11 carriers.

Individual letter carriers repeated their appointed rounds in the evening, soliciting donations door to door. Because of the late hour the volunteers got the nickname "the porch light brigade." Many carried their now-empty leather mail satchels as badges of authenticity to reassure donors these men and women could be trusted with their hard-earned nickels, dimes and quarters.
At the end of the week, the results were mind boggling, even by today's standards--nearly $4 million collected!



FULL story at link.

Sadly, no Jerry Lewis this year. Many NALC locals, including my own, hold fund-raisers throughout the year for this great cause.