photo by: Submitted

A portion of the Lawrence Lights holiday fundraiser display is picture in west Lawrence.

It is bad enough to have a Grinch in your midst during the Christmas season. But organizers of a popular holiday fundraiser are finding it may be even worse to be missing a Gator.

Volunteers for the nonprofit Lawrence Lights are lamenting the theft of an approximately $20,000 utility vehicle — a John Deere Gator — from the site of its west Lawrence holiday lights display.

The Gator was donated for use by the local John Deere dealership, and now organizers worry they’ll have to pay for its replacement, meaning the event will have little money to donate to the local charities it supports.

That is, unless the Grinch hits reverse.

“We just need somebody to leave it somewhere that we can find it so we can return it,” said Tom Pollard, a member of the Lawrence Sertoma Club, which is one of three groups that put on the large light display.

The Gator was stolen from the grounds of the Youth Sports Complex, 4911 W. 27th St., either late on Dec. 18 or early on Dec. 19, Pollard said. The Youth Sports Complex is the site of the light display, which is set up so people who pay an entry fee can drive through the maze of lights and decorations.

Ticket sales last year produced $40,000 that were donated to various charities in the Lawrence community. The Sertoma Club donates to the local food bank Just Food and other social service entities, while the Lawrence Parks & Recreation Department uses its share to fund scholarships for area youth who can’t afford to pay the fees for various parks and recreation department classes, leagues and camps. The third group, the Lawrence Board of Realtors, uses is share to fund its community foundation that provides assistance for people to remain in their homes.

Pollard said the group isn’t yet sure what it will have to pay to replace the Gator.

“We haven’t gotten into negotiations,” Pollard said. “We are just praying that somebody leaves it somewhere.”

But Pollard said it is clear that insurance won’t cover all of the loss, and organizers are worried that the amount of money they can provide to local charities will be substantially reduced as a result.

“That money is important to them,” Pollard said.

Being able to give the money also is important to the more than 100 volunteers who work at the multi-week event.

“I feel so bad for the volunteers,” Pollard said. “They have worked so hard. It is extreme frustration for the group that really gives of their time.”

Organizers did file a police report shortly after the theft, Pollard said. But as law enforcement hasn’t yet been successful in recovering the vehicle, Pollard said group members decided to make their own appeal to the thief or thieves.

“Be a Santa, not a Grinch,” Pollard said.

Alternatively, if anyone knows information about the theft or the whereabouts of the utility vehicle, they can provide information to the Lawrence Police Department at 785-843-TIPS (8477).

photo by: Submitted

This John Deere Gator utility vehicle was stolen from the Lawrence Lights holiday display in west Lawrence on either Dec. 18 or Dec. 19, 2023.