Customer donations send children to disability camp

Published 11:11 am Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Saint Patrick’s Day was more than wearing green for a particular gas station in Gardendale.

Exxon Gas Station, a store owned by Vulcan Oil, recently held a fund-raiser that lasted from Feb. 17 to March 17 for children with muscular dystrophy.

The donations given by customers totaled more than $2,000 which turned out to be more than enough to send two children to a disability camp.

“This was our best year ever,” said Mary Woods, the store’s manager. “The regular customers were real troopers.”

Muscular dystrophy is a disease that corrodes the muscles in one’s body, making movement of the limbs extremely difficult, though it much more commonly makes movement outright impossible and causes victims to be confined to wheelchairs.

According to the medical source WebMD.com, over 50,000 Americans suffer from muscular dystrophy.

Donations were given by way of purchasing decorative shamrocks. Depending on how much the customers wanted to donate, the shamrocks would cost either $1 or $5 each. Money that did not go to the children’s cost for camp was sent to Muscular Dystrophy Association, or MDA.

Woods said after the Saint Patrick’s Day fund-raider was over, she hosted a cookout and gave away food to her customers as thanks for their contributions. Her staff also held a drawing and gave away prizes.

“We were really surprised because we thought that, because of the economy, people would be discouraged from giving money,” said Woods.

This is not the first time that the Gardendale Exxon station has held charities for the benefit of children with muscular dystrophy.

According to Woods, this has been common for many years and was hosted by three other stations that are also owned by Vulcan Oil.