Colorado Gives Day helps Veterans Community Project in Longmont; one vet calls it "life changing and lifesaving"

Dozens of Northern Colorado veterans are regaining their footing thanks to generous donors on Colorado Gives Day. Veterans living at, and working with, the Veterans Community Project in Longmont are benefiting from the generous donations of Coloradans.

Veterans like Dale "Patrick" Putnam tell CBS News Colorado they are once again outstanding members of society thanks to the Veterans Community Project.

"It was definitely life changing and lifesaving, to say the least," Putnam said.

Putnam served in the Army. He said he was generally discharged with honor, and shortly after he had fallen on hard times. For a short time he was living in a homeless shelter and was experiencing difficulties with maintaining relationships with loved ones.

He wanted to improve his life, and that is when he found the Veterans Community Project in Longmont. The project is a tiny home community that also features some larger units for families. It is made up of veterans who can live for two years at the property free of rent. The project helps build a community among the veterans while also providing them resources to regaining stability in their lives, both professionally and personally.

"It was truly a community. It was a chance to connect with other veterans and the staff as well," Putnam said.

Not only did Putnam live in the community, he also contributed in the construction process.

"I didn't want to just receive help. I wanted to contribute, to reciprocate the help I was getting," Putnam said. "It was pretty much like adult Legos."

Putnam said he was able to move into the fully furnished tiny home and regain his career in information technology. He also credited the staff at the community for helping him rebuild his mental health as well.

"It gave me the time and space to be able to heel myself mentally," Putnam said. "Being connected with other human beings while I rose up from those ashes was paramount to that whole process."

Putnam graduated the program and is now successfully navigating his life and career in his own home.

"Living (in the community) gave me the space and the shelter I needed to go through that whole process," Putnam said. "I almost completely debt free for the first time in my adult life."

Putnam encouraged veterans experiencing difficulties to find solace in the help of others. He said it is easy for veterans to not seek help in an effort to preserve their idea of pride and ego. However, he said setting his aside in an effort to rebuild his life was one of his best decisions.

"I didn't imagine I would be able to pull myself out of the darkness I was experiencing so quickly, and I don't think it would have been possible without this place," Putnam said.