A Christmas attraction in Greene County has donated more than $4,000 to help local cancer patients get to their cancer treatment.
Haypress Falls, owned and operated by Denny & Sherry Vetter, began the Christmas light display and Nolan’s petting zoo in 2005. Vetter only started the donation box about 5 years ago to begin donating money to local charities for driving through the display. The display has always been free to anyone who decided to attend.
According to the Greene Prairie Press, Vetter says they took in $1,500 the first year they decided to put out the donation box, with the amount growing by about $500 each year. Vetter says what started out as a desire to simply have a waterfall at his house turned into a Christmas attraction after neighbors began donating Christmas lights to decorate the falls for the holidays. Vetter keeps a log of visitors to the Falls each year. He says that he’s had people from foreign countries sign the log over the years. This year they had visitors from 8 different states.
This year the Falls raised $4,048 in donations which Vetter recently presented to Carrollton’s Boyd Memorial Hospital CEO Debbie Campbell. Campbell told the Greene Prairie Press that the money will be used for the Gas Cards for Cancer program. The program helps about 18 Greene County cancer patients. The patients receive $75 gas cards every month to receive their cancer treatments.
Vetter, who is now in his 80s, says he continues to put up the display each year because he and his wife love children and he’s glad to help his neighbors in the process.