SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) –A day after the official ribbon cutting of the Veterans Community Project in Sioux Falls, a group of volunteers is on site. They are helping build tiny homes where homeless Veterans can stay while they work to get back on their feet.

This two-acre sight in northwest Sioux Falls will soon be home to 25 homes like these and a center where Veterans will get support. The first five tiny homes have been built, and a group from Xcel Energy is here to help move the project along.

“You want your mortar to be kind of like a peanut butter consistency,”said David Rieger

Rieger is in charge of construction and turning volunteers into construction crews.

“Some of them might know what they are doing, some of them might not. That’s the joy of my job, is those people who do know what they are doing, they can actually show their peers as well. They can have that excitement of doing it again and teaching other people, too,” said Rieger.

Chris Clark is the president of Xcel in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota. He came to volunteer his time because..

“We have a lot of veterans that work for our company, and this is a project that really gets all of us excited being able to help homeless Veterans get them on a path to a new start, and this is just such a great community project,” said Clark.

Today some were painting, others learned to apply rock face to the exterior. Rieger says anyone and everyone is invited to be a volunteer.

“They are this project. Without volunteers, we are nothing,’ said Reiger.

It may take a few years for The Veterans Community Project in Sioux Falls to be finished, but they plan to make progress in phases. The first five Veterans will be moving in next month.

Volunteers are urged to contact Kaelyn Giefer the Community Engagement Coordinator at kgiefer@vcp.org or check out the VCP webpage.

 https://www.veteranscommunityproject.org/siouxfalls