MDA to lock up volunteers

IU students and other Monroe County citizens are becoming jailbirds for charity. The volunteers will be locked in the Fountain Square Mall and hope to raise $800 as bond money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The annual Bloomington Lock-Up will be held from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. April 6 and 7. \n"It's a great event for everyone in the community to get involved in," District Director Amber Treat said. "It's a great way for people to give back to the community and help us out, also."\nThe MDA is a voluntary health agency aimed at overcoming neuromuscular diseases affecting more than one million Americans each year. MDA is a shared partnership between scientists and citizens. The program fights neuromuscular diseases through worldwide research programs, medical and community services and public health education. \n"We are currently searching for a cure for neuromuscular diseases that the MDA covers," volunteer recruiter Delores Patterson said. "There are 43 of them right now that we are working on." \nAlthough the association is a national organization, this particular event's proceeds will benefit 33 families in the Bloomington area. \n"The money that we raise helps the families of the MDA programs," Regional Coordinator Christine LaMar said. "We don't charge MDA families for anything, not even doctors appointments. The fund-raisers pay for everything."\nMDA hopes to raise between $40,000 and $42,000 for the patients' use at the lock-up benefit program. The money raised will be used to treat patients, buy equipment and pay for medical bills. \n"We use the most of the money to purchase their wheelchairs, braces, for clinic visits, office calls, monthly support group sessions, research for the program and summer camp in Happy Hallow in Brown County," Patterson said. "All the money will be used to benefit the families of the MDA in one way or another."\nThe community's involvement plays a vital role in making the fund-raiser possible. Restaurants and businesses donate money for prizes for participants and also help the MDA reach its goal for the fund-raiser. Also, the Bloomington Police Department has volunteered to pick-up and drop-off volunteers in police cars if scheduling allows.\n"The theme of the fund-raiser is a luau, so anyone who wears a Hawaiian shirt or a lei will receive a prize for participating," Patterson said. "Local businesses are giving free gift certificates, and we will also have free food there all day each day. The fund-raiser will be very festive."\nThe MDA currently has approximately 300 volunteers and is hoping to have at least 400 paticipants in the fund-raiser. Recruiters such as Patterson search for volunteers by asking last year's participants, businesses and IU students to help with the lock-up. \nVolunteers are asked to spend an hour of time at Fountain Square Mall as jailbirds and to attempt to raise $800 by asking businesses, friends and family members to bail them out.\n"If the jailbirds don't raise $800, we definitely won't make them stay there until they do," Patterson said. "We are only asking for each person to do their best. Networking is encouraged for the fund-raising by asking people they know to get money."\n-- Contact staff writer Nellie Summerfield at nsummerf@indiana.edu.