Every Story Matters - Chris

Editor’s Note:  Following is a substack article written by Mandy Bryant, who is the longtime partner of Chris Daggett, the subject of this article.  Mandy and Chris were among those displaced from China Hat when it closed.  Mandy and Chris were able to find a place to live in their 5^th Wheel and are now actively engaged in helping others experiencing homelessness.  Mandy has a podcast that focuses on letting those who have not experienced homelessness hear the background stories of those who are currently experiencing homelessness where oftentimes one small turn of events puts them on the streets.

Displaced by a Moment – The Story of Chris Daggett

A Builder of Bend:  If you drive through the Central Oregon town of Bend, you are looking at the physical legacy of the man I have loved for eight years.  Chris is a third generation Bend resident with roots that run deep into this high desert soil.  For his entire life, he has been a craftsman in construction.  On that drive, he will point a porch here, a custom kitchen there, a roof, or a detailed mosaic tile job and say, “You see that right there, I did that.”  His hands have quite literally helped build the silhouette of the city we call home.

The Service of a Lifetime:  Long before he experienced displacement, Chris’s life was defined by service.  He spent years in Search and Rescue, specializing in high-stakes environments like swift water and rough terrain.  He was part of a group called when people needed help in the forest.  It didn’t matter if the call was for a rescue or a recovery, he volunteered to risk his own safety to bring neighbors home to their families.  Whether it was volunteering for Habitat for Humanity or a local nonprofit called Healing Reins, Chris lived by a simply philosophy – to live his life for others.

The Breaking Point :Stability, however, is often more fragile than the wood and stone Chris works with. 

 He describes the “tipping point” not as a single event, but as a slow, heavy saturation.  Imagine holding a wet paper towel in the air.  The towel is the fabric of life.  One by one, you start dropping marbles onto it – each one representing the weight of a struggle.  For Chris, one marble is for a struggle with severe depression and anxiety that feels like a physical heart attack.  Another is for the devastating separation from his children after a 14-year relationship ended.  A third for private health care challenges.  You can see the water soaking in; you can see the fibers stretching thin.  You keep adding marbles, hoping the towel holds, until one drops onto the pile making it too much, and the whole thing tears through the center.  That is how it happened for Chris, how he found himself homeless.

The Man by the Fire:  The transition into the woods was not easy.  He was now living the same life as the people he was ridiculing just weeks before.  Not on clue how to get by, Chris was quickly introduced to the selfless humanity of the unhoused.  Offering him food, sleeping bags, tents, and on one occasion one even offered Chris a second chance at life.

During a deep winter night, Chris reached a point of total exhaustion and passed out in the snow.  He believes, in that moment, he was ready to let go, that he was done with it all.  But he was saved by a man named RA, a staple of the local unhoused community who had lived along the canal for years.  RA found him, dragged him back to  his own camp, and placed him by the fire to get him warm. It was a moment of radical humanity from someone who had almost nothing to give, yet gave everything to save a life.

Ingenuity in the Woods:  Even in displacement, Chris remained a builder.  During the closure of the China Hat area south of Bend, Oregon that displaced around 200 of the unhoused, he used his “backyard engineering” skills to fix vehicles and electrical systems for others.  He also  helped tow 32 different vehicles, helping his neighbors move their entire lives because that’s what a neighbor does.  “People needed help, I had a truck that could pull, so I helped.”

No matter how big his heart is or how many people he helps, Chris struggles to have people see him as anything but homeless.  The most painful part of his journey wasn’t the cold, it was the “othering.”  It was the “rotten fruit” thrown at him and his children by a passerby when parked at the hospital while he received medical care for a severe illness.  Chris found himself being denied a bathroom at a local Chevron while buying fuel for his community.  Even after those events and many others just like it, Chris refuses to become jaded by them.

Where We Are Now:  Today, Chris is no longer just surviving the winter, he is helping others navigate theirs.  We are currently working together on S.H.I.F.T. (Supporting Housing Integration and Future Transitions), an initiative born from these exact lessons of ingenuity and lived experience.  He continues to use his hands to build, but now he is building systems of support, ensuring that when the fibers of a neighbor’s life start to stretch there is a community there to catch the weight.

After eight years by his side – I witnessed his journey from a man who felt worthy of nothing but the negative to a man who is driven by his morals and determined to do the right thing and help where others refuse.  Chris defines dignity and the heart of our mission with these words:

“Dignity is the inherent right of every person to be treated with respect and valued 

just for existing.  It’s you knowing your worth and the humanity you give to others, \

no matter where they sit economically.”