As Longmont’s tiny home village for military veterans nears completion, volunteers are pitching in to make the community look as good as possible.

This week, volunteers gave their time and energy to Veterans Community Project, a nonprofit group serving veterans experiencing homelessness. The village, which has been in development for several years, sits at 3095 Mountain Brook Drive.

On Wednesday, employees of Armed Forces Bank and Academy Bank rolled up their sleeves to shovel rocks into wheelbarrows and do some landscaping around the village. Armed Forces Bank has branches in Denver, Fort Collins and at Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, among others; Academy Bank has branches in Greeley, Loveland and Thornton.

“It’s a really good workout,” said Jessica Gardner, chief marketing officer for Armed Forces Bank.

The finished village will have 26 tiny homes for veterans to live in for free as they work toward permanent housing. The community currently has 10 residents.

Armed Forces Bank works closely with members of the U.S. military and their families. The bank is coordinating volunteer efforts at all six Veterans Community Project tiny home villages across the country, including in Longmont.

Armed Forces Bank’s new “Heroes Round Up” program provides an opportunity for its checking account owners to support VCP. When someone rounds up to the nearest dollar on a debit card purchase, that additional payment goes into a savings account. At the end of the month, the money in the savings account is donated directly to VCP.

“This is kind of in celebration of that launch,” Gardner said of Wednesday’s volunteer work.

May is also National Military Appreciation Month.

“For us to take a month to appreciate their service, I think, is a small piece that we can do,” Gardner said.

A few of the volunteers were from the Colorado Springs area. Castle Rock resident Dave Choe, a retail executive at Academy Bank, said the volunteer day was a great opportunity to step away from the office and contribute to a cause he holds dear.

“It’s a beautiful little community,” Choe said of VCP Longmont. “It’s amazing what they’re doing here.”

Choe also volunteered at VCP Longmont a couple of years ago. For Choe, seeing the village’s progress over that time was “really rewarding.”

“When I first was here two years ago, I would say maybe half of these homes were built,” Choe said. “I don’t think any of the insides were completed.”

VCP Longmont staff plan to finish the entire village this summer. The final touches include completing the interiors of eight homes and finishing up the landscaping.

Jennifer Seybold, executive director of VCP Longmont, said the donations from the “Heroes Round Up” program will support case management for veterans in Longmont and VCP’s other cities.

“This roundup campaign is amazing,” Seybold said. “Veterans serving veterans is a strong part of our mission to begin with.”

“The real magic of this is how many people have physically put their hands on it,” Seybold said of the village.