Oklahoma WWII Veteran, Once Homeless, Gets Car

A formerly homeless World War II veteran is driving a new car Sunday thanks to a Tulsa charity. Car Care Clinic, a Tulsa ministry that receives donated cars and gives them to people in need, presented the car to Chuck Johnson after they were contacted about his situation through the VFW.

The group said making gifts like this might come to an end without help from lawmakers.

Johnson was just placed into housing recently, one of his case workers said.

"This is terrific, and I couldn't be more needful for a car," Johnson said. "I will take care of this car and drive it with gratitude.

Donations like these can be tricky for Car Care Clinic.

Lonnie Vaughan said the problem is the tags. He said it's expensive and time consuming to keep them updated. That makes even simple things like moving the cars around town difficult.

"We were in question whether because of this lack of being able to get the temporary tags - whether we were going to be able to continue to accept donated cars," Vaughan said.

Oklahoma lawmakers were also on hand at Sunday's event because Car Care Clinic reached out to them about getting special dealer tags for charitable organizations.

Car Care Clinic says that in between time where they receive donated cars and try to get them placed with needy families, tags expire. Car Care Clinic hopes this dealer tag will help them operate more efficiently as a car charity.

Senator Gary Stanislawski and Representative Ken Walker authored the bill that would bypass an excise tax on the donated motor vehicles. The Tulsa lawmakers spearheaded the effort to get the bill passed - to ensure gifts like these keep on giving.

"A Tulsa couple runs a ministry called the Car Care Clinic that receives donated cars and fixes them up for mostly single moms," said Walker, R-Tulsa. 

"They receive and fix up about 600 cars per year and this legislation will allow them to do even more."

Church Johnson thought it was something to cheer about.

"Thanks to all you people," he said.

Senate Bill 1459 is expected to pass. It will be up to the governor to sign it.

Learn more about Car Care Clinic