Showing Up for a Cause Bigger Than Us
By Burn Boot CampMay 8, 2026Showing up isn’t something you say. It’s something you do, time and time again. It’s easy to show up once, but harder to do it consistently, year after year, without recognition or expectation.
That idea has always been part of what Burn Boot Camp is all about. Show up for your workout, the people around you, and your community.
Since 2015, Burn Boot Camp has supported the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), raising more than $3 million to advance its mission. What began as a single moment has grown into something much bigger for everyone.
Discovering a Cause That Matched the Mission
In 2015, Burn Boot Camp co-founders Devan and Morgan Kline walked into a Naples, Florida 7-Eleven and noticed a flyer for a nearby MDA event, which was happening that very day across the street from the store. Curious, they decided to walk over.
What they found was a group of kids in wheelchairs experiencing something special. A day filled with energy, connection, and joy. At the time, Devan and Morgan had been searching for a way to give back in a meaningful way, something that felt larger than themselves.
Standing there, it was clear they had just found it. The phrase “Be Their Muscle” came to them, not as a slogan but a mission. What followed didn’t start as a large initiative. It began locally, inside a single gym, and expanded rapidly as more people got involved.
A Week That Changes Everything
MDA Summer Camp is one of the organization’s most well-known programs. Jay Feely, a former NFL kicker and longtime MDA volunteer, first attended as a counselor at 16. He remembers kids swimming, playing basketball, and dancing, doing things that aren’t always possible in their daily lives.
“It's the one week where they're free from all the inhibitions that this disease places on them. They can be a normal kid.”
-Jay Feely
Lily Sander, now the MDA’s National Ambassador, began attending camp at the age of eight. When she talks about it, she doesn’t focus on the activities, but more on how the experience makes her feel.
“It's the feeling that no one's staring at your wheelchair. You don't have to answer any questions because everybody gets it. We all have different types of diseases and different equipment or needs, but we all get each other.”
MDA’s Ongoing Work
Beyond camp, the MDA plays a critical role in advancing research that is changing what a neuromuscular diagnosis means. Dr. Sharon Hesterly, the organization’s Chief Research Officer, has described this as one of the most promising periods in the field’s history.
In the past decade alone, 28 drugs have been approved. Conditions that once led to early mortality are now being managed in ways that allow children to grow, move, and live fuller lives.
For example, the most severe form of spinal muscular atrophy was once the leading genetic cause of death in infants. Today, children diagnosed early are reaching milestones that weren’t possible before.
It’s important to know that progress like this doesn’t happen all at once. It begins with research funding, often long before pharmaceutical companies are involved. Organizations like the MDA help support early-stage research through grants, allowing this important work to move forward.
Over its 75-year history, the MDA has invested more than $1 billion into neuromuscular research. Still, each year, more promising research proposals are submitted than can be funded. It’s a reminder that long-term progress depends on continued support.
Help You Don’t Always See
Some of the MDA’s most meaningful work happens quietly, in everyday situations.
Mark Davis, a member of Burn’s headquarters team, has a son named Henry who lives with spinal muscular atrophy. His family has benefited from the MDA’s equipment-sharing network, a system where families pass along wheelchairs and assistive devices as needs change. While traveling, they were able to borrow a chair from another family. Later, they passed it along again.
Lindsay Treadway, a Burn Boot Camp franchise partner, has shared a similar example involving a friend with ALS who relies on local MDA chapters when traveling. These chapters help provide equipment and ensure accessibility in unfamiliar places.
How a Community Turns Heart into Action
At Burn Boot Camp, this kind of impact doesn’t come from a single effort. It grows through consistent participation.
Franchise partners lead initiatives within their communities. Trainers and team members bring those efforts into their gyms. Members get involved, bring their families, and contribute in meaningful ways.
Lindsay Treadway has been part of that journey for nearly a decade, first as a member, and now as a franchise partner and member of the Franchise Advisory Council.
She has helped organize national events, including one at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. For her, the impact extends beyond individual gyms.
“It's not just about what happens in your four walls. It's the impact you make in D.C. or across the country.”
-Lindsay Treadway
Showing Up Consistently
For Burn Boot Camp, supporting the MDA isn’t a one-time initiative. It reflects a broader belief. A belief in consistency, community and showing up for something beyond yourself.
What happens inside our gyms doesn’t stay there. It extends outward into the lives of others.
How You Can Be Part of It
The work the MDA does depends on continued support. Summer camp returns each year, research continues to evolve, and families rely on resources, care, and community every day.
Each year, the Burn Boot Camp community gathers for a Be Their Muscle event hosted in a different city, raising funds to support that work. If you’d like to get involved, you can support the MDA directly by visiting mda.org.
Because real impact isn’t created in a single moment. It’s built by showing up for the long haul.
Back to PodcastsShowing up isn’t something you say. It’s something you do, time and time again. It’s easy to show up once, but harder to do it consistently, year after year, without recognition or expectation.
That idea has always been part of what Burn Boot Camp is all about. Show up for your workout, the people around you, and your community.
Since 2015, Burn Boot Camp has supported the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), raising more than $3 million to advance its mission. What began as a single moment has grown into something much bigger for everyone.
Discovering a Cause That Matched the Mission
In 2015, Burn Boot Camp co-founders Devan and Morgan Kline walked into a Naples, Florida 7-Eleven and noticed a flyer for a nearby MDA event, which was happening that very day across the street from the store. Curious, they decided to walk over.
What they found was a group of kids in wheelchairs experiencing something special. A day filled with energy, connection, and joy. At the time, Devan and Morgan had been searching for a way to give back in a meaningful way, something that felt larger than themselves.
Standing there, it was clear they had just found it. The phrase “Be Their Muscle” came to them, not as a slogan but a mission. What followed didn’t start as a large initiative. It began locally, inside a single gym, and expanded rapidly as more people got involved.
A Week That Changes Everything
MDA Summer Camp is one of the organization’s most well-known programs. Jay Feely, a former NFL kicker and longtime MDA volunteer, first attended as a counselor at 16. He remembers kids swimming, playing basketball, and dancing, doing things that aren’t always possible in their daily lives.
“It's the one week where they're free from all the inhibitions that this disease places on them. They can be a normal kid.”
-Jay Feely
Lily Sander, now the MDA’s National Ambassador, began attending camp at the age of eight. When she talks about it, she doesn’t focus on the activities, but more on how the experience makes her feel.
“It's the feeling that no one's staring at your wheelchair. You don't have to answer any questions because everybody gets it. We all have different types of diseases and different equipment or needs, but we all get each other.”
MDA’s Ongoing Work
Beyond camp, the MDA plays a critical role in advancing research that is changing what a neuromuscular diagnosis means. Dr. Sharon Hesterly, the organization’s Chief Research Officer, has described this as one of the most promising periods in the field’s history.
In the past decade alone, 28 drugs have been approved. Conditions that once led to early mortality are now being managed in ways that allow children to grow, move, and live fuller lives.
For example, the most severe form of spinal muscular atrophy was once the leading genetic cause of death in infants. Today, children diagnosed early are reaching milestones that weren’t possible before.
It’s important to know that progress like this doesn’t happen all at once. It begins with research funding, often long before pharmaceutical companies are involved. Organizations like the MDA help support early-stage research through grants, allowing this important work to move forward.
Over its 75-year history, the MDA has invested more than $1 billion into neuromuscular research. Still, each year, more promising research proposals are submitted than can be funded. It’s a reminder that long-term progress depends on continued support.
Help You Don’t Always See
Some of the MDA’s most meaningful work happens quietly, in everyday situations.
Mark Davis, a member of Burn’s headquarters team, has a son named Henry who lives with spinal muscular atrophy. His family has benefited from the MDA’s equipment-sharing network, a system where families pass along wheelchairs and assistive devices as needs change. While traveling, they were able to borrow a chair from another family. Later, they passed it along again.
Lindsay Treadway, a Burn Boot Camp franchise partner, has shared a similar example involving a friend with ALS who relies on local MDA chapters when traveling. These chapters help provide equipment and ensure accessibility in unfamiliar places.
How a Community Turns Heart into Action
At Burn Boot Camp, this kind of impact doesn’t come from a single effort. It grows through consistent participation.
Franchise partners lead initiatives within their communities. Trainers and team members bring those efforts into their gyms. Members get involved, bring their families, and contribute in meaningful ways.
Lindsay Treadway has been part of that journey for nearly a decade, first as a member, and now as a franchise partner and member of the Franchise Advisory Council.
She has helped organize national events, including one at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. For her, the impact extends beyond individual gyms.
“It's not just about what happens in your four walls. It's the impact you make in D.C. or across the country.”
-Lindsay Treadway
Showing Up Consistently
For Burn Boot Camp, supporting the MDA isn’t a one-time initiative. It reflects a broader belief. A belief in consistency, community and showing up for something beyond yourself.
What happens inside our gyms doesn’t stay there. It extends outward into the lives of others.
How You Can Be Part of It
The work the MDA does depends on continued support. Summer camp returns each year, research continues to evolve, and families rely on resources, care, and community every day.
Each year, the Burn Boot Camp community gathers for a Be Their Muscle event hosted in a different city, raising funds to support that work. If you’d like to get involved, you can support the MDA directly by visiting mda.org.
Because real impact isn’t created in a single moment. It’s built by showing up for the long haul.
Back to Podcasts