Some Ames citizens will be locked up “for good” between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. this Wednesday and Thursday at Brenton Bank to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).

The event, “Ames Lock-Up,” will be a major fund-raising campaign for the MDA.

“We now have over 200 people scheduled as jailbirds, who are anybody in the community, and some of them are business people,” said Erin Schettler, program coordinator of MDA. “They’re all from Ames or Story County.”

The “jailbirds” will be convicted and sentenced to raise their “bail” at the bank.

The public will assist these prisoners by calling to make a donation to bail them out of jail.

The public is invited to visit the jailbirds and to contribute to their freedom, according to a press release.

All jailbirds will be locked up in the community room located on the second floor of the bank, and the bank will serve the customers as usual, Schettler said.

The campaign, which is in its fourth year, raised about $26,000 last year.

But Schettler said MDA is shooting for more contributions this year.

“We hope to break the record from last year and raise about $26,000 to $30,000,” Schettler said.

Funds raised through the campaign will help improve the quality of life for more than 580 families in central Iowa who are served by the association, according to a press release.

These services include free clinical care at Iowa Methodist Medical Center, support groups, wheelchairs and braces, genetic counseling, a youth summer camp and a worldwide research effort to find treatments and cures for neuromuscular disease.

All of these services are provided at no cost to the patients of their families.

The campaign receives strong support from Ames businesses, including Fareway, Jiffy Lube and Bruegger’s Bagel Bakery.

Businesses sponsor the campaign by providing refreshments and presenting gift certificates to the top fund-raising jailbirds, Schettler said.

“We hope the campaign will increase public awareness to the diseases,” she said. “All jailbirds are so involved in the campaign, and they call their friends to participate in it also.”

The association is a national health organization based in Des Moines and maintains six offices in Iowa. For further information, call the MDA district office at (515) 278-8448.