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Man who lived in car for years has home for Christmas thanks to group of strangers

This Christmas, Chuck Chancellor has a home thanks to the generosity of strangers who refused to leave him stranded.

A West Linn man who spent years living in his van now has a home thanks to the generosity of a group of strangers.

A few years ago, Chuck Chancellor and his wife Kristi were working and renting a house. That’s when Chuck, already a diabetic, had a heart attack. Later, Kristi suffered a stroke.

Soon after, the bank foreclosed on their landlord. It all left Kristi in a long-term care facility and Chuck in his van.

About a month ago, Joan Gaither was shopping at Ross when she spotted Chuck panhandling and asked why.

“It was him needing money to go see his wife and telling me that’s lived in his car for three years,” Gaither said.

“And he looked like nobody cared about him. I knew that he needed to make sure he knew how important he was,” she said.

With Chuck’s permission, Gaither took to social media. That’s when another stranger, Gregg Creighton, saw the post and took Chuck’s cause to GoFundMe.

While donations poured in, Creighton offered Chuck a spare room in his office.

“Chuck was easy to help,” Creighton said.

Thanks to many strangers, Chuck now has an apartment and car insurance.

On Saturday all of these once-strangers came together at Willamette Coffee House in West Linn, where another supporter gave Chuck a futon for free.

“I was just totally stunned,” Chuck said. “Why? Why me?”

It was an opportunity for Chuck to give thanks to the people who refused to leave him stranded.

For those who helped, making Chuck’s Christmas especially merry this year was a no-brainer.

“How can you not love him?” Gaither asked.

"I've got people that are willing to help me now, but at the same time I've got to help myself, too," Chuck said.

So far, the GoFundMe campaign for Chuck has raised more than $3,000. Neighbors say they want to keep going, adding that Chuck is expecting disability payments to kick in in February. They're also hoping to help him find part-time work and a permanent home where he can live with his wife as she recovers.

KGW's Maggie Vespa contributed to this report.

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