Over 100 Volunteers Give Tiny Homes for Veterans Community Project Festive Facelift for Christmas

(Illustration - Getty Images)

A village of tiny homes especially designated and designed for veterans in need is ready for the Christmas holidays, as more than 100 volunteers stepped in to festively decorate the community.

The Veterans Community Project (VCP) was founded by a group of veterans in Kansas City, Missouri, united by their desire for a solution to the homelessness crisis among their fellow servicemen.

Over a two-year period, the group has funded and built a flagship village of 49 tiny homes, which provide a stepping stone toward permanent housing for homeless veterans in their city.

“Many Veterans arrive at VCP Village with little more than the pain, uncertainty, and loneliness of life on the streets,” the group explains on its website. “A tiny house provides everything he or she needs to live with dignity and safety; new furniture, appliances, housewares, bedding, food, and utilities, free of charge.”

To provide the finishing touches, over 100 volunteers from the Community America Foundation (CAF) arrived at the tiny homes village on Nov. 25, 2019, with thousands of donated lights and the spirit of Christmas to bestow on their warriors.

“The biggest thing in the transformation of veterans is they have hope again,” VCP’s director of clinical services, Josh Henges, told KSHB, adding, “That is what we live for. That is the currency we want.”

“The veterans have done so much for our country,” CAF’s Kathryn Harvel told KMBC. “They have made the ultimate sacrifice, and anything that we can do to brighten their holiday season ... we are so excited.”

The festive lights serve a triple function: They represent the gratitude of the volunteers for the veterans’ service, they herald the coming holidays, and they serve as a welcome to new residents as they claim their tiny homes.

“We hope that when they come here and see that the community has done this, that it speaks to them,” Harvel explained.

For Kansas City veteran Eric Bishop, his tiny home is a lifeline.

“It gives me a chance to just catch my breath,” Bishop said. “It takes the environmental issue out when you don’t have to worry about where are you going to live. The veterans, they really are like a family.”

One of the VCP project’s proudest finishing touches is the village flagpole.

“So the tradition is, or at least the folklore is, when you’re a watch-stander in the military, that the decorative ball that sits on top of the flagpole contains a round of ammunition and a book of matches,” VCP’s coordinator Matthew Bonnot explained to WDAF.

“The reason for that, or so the folklore goes, is that if your position is overrun you can burn the flag and use the round of ammunition to either defend yourself or shoot yourself,” Bonnot continued. “I mean, we’re creating our own traditions here at VCP, but to carry on some of the ones that you’ve lived with for your entire military career it’s ... it’s very meaningful.”

Currently, 30 veterans call the VCP village home. Air Force veteran Timothy Garinger is one of them. “It’s going to be a relaxing Thanksgiving,” he said. “I haven’t been able to celebrate in the last few years.

“Having a home is security and knowing that I can breathe,” Garinger, who suffers from PTSD, continued. “I don’t have to worry, ‘Am I going to be on the streets? Am I going to find somewhere to eat?’”

The village will soon look suitably festive, with a lighting event and the raising of the flagpole planned for Dec. 4. The project also estimates that 19 additional homes will be built, equipped, and ready to welcome veterans before Christmas.