Wisconsin Dells event helps past and present military fight suicide

Five organizations are collaborating for the “2-22 to Save 22″ event at Kalahari Resorts in the Wisconsin Dells Tuesday. The groups hope to help current members of the military and veterans fight suicide and acclimate to civilian life.

Onward and Upward, Project Diehard, Veterans and Warriors One Stop Shop, and others are hosting the event. It starts at nine and runs throughout the day, featuring speakers, meditative sessions, and a job fair. Organizers say the goal is to give veterans a sense of community.

“When we’re in the military, we are told, what we’re going to do, when we’re going to do it and how we’re going to do it, and we’re with a group of people, but when we leave the military, we’re no longer in a group of people, we are by ourselves,” said Annamarie Bliven, founder of Onward and Upward.

Bliven says there are well over 30 military suicides every day. She says one of the critical things to changing that stat is giving veterans a sense of community and direction.