AN Alphington man’s dream to stand on his own two feet has been granted after a flood of community donations.

Nathan Hoare, 28, last month took delivery of a standing wheelchair after receiving a staggering $26,000 in less than six months thanks to a campaign by Villa Maria and Northcote Leader.

Mr Hoare, who lives at Villa Maria’s Alphington residence for people with acquired brain injuries, can now stand up when he orders a drink at a bar, barracks for the Sydney Swans at the footy, or sells plants at St Andrew’s Market.

Villa Maria Alphington manager Jo Herbert said both Mr Hoare and residence staff were blown away by the community’s generosity.

“Nathan has expressed to me that he’s overwhelmed that the community was so supportive,” Ms Herbert said. “He couldn’t believe how supportive strangers who don’t know him were, and were actually supporting him with money and goods. “We’re eternally grateful.”

Donations flooded in after Mr Hoare reached out through the Leader last September.

Businesses and residents donated, tattooists teamed up with artists to create a fundraiser adult colouring book, Darebin Council gave 200 trees and shrubs to be sold, countless raffles were held and one resident raised $4000 through a plant stall.

The wheelchair is operated with a simple set of controls on the armrest, with Mr Hoare able to move from sitting to standing at the push of a button.

media_camera Nathan Hoare can now stand upright ... media_camera ... with the push of a button.

Mr Hoare has used a wheelchair and non-vocal communication since falling from a two-storey building 10 years ago.

Despite his injury, not much slows the Holden and Swans devotee down.

The keen revhead even hand-signals fishtails, burnouts and doughnuts with an ear-to-ear grin.

With his text-to-speech soundboard being repaired, Mr Hoare used a communication board to speak with Leader, pointing out the words “brilliant”, “great” and “awesome” when asked how he felt about his new wheels.