A small business is trying to make the holidays much brighter for a disabled teen in Lithia by bringing an elaborate light display.
Holly Hollenbeck with Duffey Tree Care’s Holiday Edition has dedicated the off-season to helping homeowners put up light displays on their homes.
Over the weekend, Hollenbeck visited a home in Lithia, to give an estimate to Renee Petro and her family.
While there, Hollenbeck met Petro’s son, Branden, who suffers from a rare form of epilepsy since the age of seven.
“He kept trying to walk in the road, and she was trying to guard him from getting out in the street, then he had a seizure,” said Hollenbeck.
The seizure, so severe, sent Branden and Petro inside the home, while Hollenbeck waited to finish the estimate.
“And then I told her I’ll get back to her later,” she said.
Along with Petro taking care of her son full-time, Branden’s father is deployed in Iraq.
Within a few hours, Hollenbeck called Petro to offer the family a Holiday display free of charge,
“It was weighing heavy on my soul,” she said.
Hollenbeck took to the crowdsourcing site GoFundMe to help raise enough money for new Christmas lights and other items to hang them. As of Monday, the site has raised $200 of the $800 goal.
“I lost faith in humanity since my son got sick,” said Petro, “I feel our focus has gone away from what truly matters, and that’s being good, and that’s being helpful, and that’s giving to people.”
Hollenbeck and her crew will decorate the home on the 9th of December.
