The Wrightsville Beach Police Department will send Capt. P. Burdette to be placed behind bars for the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Lock-Up at Courts and Sports in Wilmington on Wednesday, Oct. 3, from 9 a.m to 4 p.m.
Wrightsville Beach Police Chief Dan House said he involved the department in the campaign because he has seen the effects of the disease firsthand since his mother is a retired physical therapist who spent much of her career working with children with muscular dystrophy.
Nancy Black, a health care services staff member for the Wilmington MDA office, said the MDA expected around 200 jailbirds at Courts and Sports next Wednesday. The Wilmington MDA office was established in 2001 and Black said there has been at least one Lock-Up event every year since. The funds raised will assist MDA in providing lifesaving research, a nationwide network of medical clinics and accessible summer camp experiences to individuals and families affected by neuromuscular diseases.
MDA is the nation’s largest nongovernmental funder of scientific research seeking better treatments and cures for the more than 40 neuromuscular diseases in its program. Through its efforts, MDA has funded the discovery of the genetic roots of almost all diseases in its program — including muscular dystrophies, spinal muscular atrophy, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and several other neuromuscular diseases.
So far, WBPD has raised $739 of its goal of $2,500. Black said it costs $800 to pay for a child’s stay at the MDA summer camp, which provides safe, healthy outdoor activities for children ages 6-17 who live with MD. Individuals or organizations are allowed to make donations to the WBPD campaign through the department’s MDA Lock-Up website until the Lock-Up actually starts on Oct. 3. To donate and for more information about WBPD’s campaign, visit
www.mda.org/lockup and search for Dan House in the Find a Jailbird search bar.
