ANDERSON, Ind. — The legacy of an Indiana hometown hero lives on in Anderson.
Larry "The Can Man" VanNess was beloved around the city before his death in 2022. He was known for collecting millions of pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House during his lifetime.
The tradition has carried on after his passing.
One of the many people keeping VanNess' movement going is a 6-year-old girl. Sarah Davis told 13News her daughter met VanNess two years ago when the girl was just 4 years old.
Since then, she has been eager to keep collecting pop tabs in his memory.
"He was just so dedicated and he walked all over town and picked everything up himself and he did so much on his own before other people started helping out, so we just wanted to help," Davis said. "He was a really great guy and doing great things for the community. And we thought we'd help out."
On Friday, the group "Larry's Legacy" dropped off a million tabs to Ronald McDonald House, bringing the number of tabs donated by VanNess and the group to more than 31 million.
'I'm a tabaholic now'
VanNess began collecting tabs for Ronald McDonald House in 2003, later referring to himself as "a tabaholic now, instead of an alcoholic," in reference to the substance abuse issues that plagued him early in adulthood.
"I was a drunk. I was homeless since I was 16," he told 13News in a 2016 interview.
By the time of that 2016 interview, VanNess had collected more than 11 million pop tabs. He more than doubled that total by the time he passed away. Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Indiana put the total at over 27 million tabs.
"Larry may not have had children of his own, but he cared deeply about the mission of RMHCCIN and the people it served, and often shared that collecting pop tabs gave him purpose," the charity posted on Facebook after VanNess' death.
His passion for helping the charity led to him raising more than $6,000 for Ronald McDonald House by 2016.