It’s a festive gathering, with a serious message. 

Operation Zero held its third annual event Saturday in Dayton, just north of Rogers. 

“Unfortunately, we lose 22 vets a day, and one is way too many,” declares Dean Joersz, the state president of the Vietnam Veterans Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club. “It’s really important to pay back, you know, what this country’s done for us and try to help the veterans.”

Hundreds turned out at a northern Hennepin County field that was transformed into a healing place to raise funds to help veterans in crisis.

“I don’t want any brother or sister in arms to feel the way that I did,” explains Philip Krabbe, an Iraq War veteran who lives in Detroit Lakes.

He’s among those in support of Operation Zero.

The non-profit’s mission is to help prevent veteran suicide.

“I had three deployments to Iraq,” Krabbe says. “I had a lot of good experiences and a lot of bad experiences, but I’m here now, and it’s in my past, and made me what I am today.”

For Krabbe, who served as an infantryman in the Marine Corps from 2002 to 2010, this is personal.

The father of two almost died by suicide in 2020, after battling PTSD and depression.

“I thought about my 7-year-old son, and I didn’t want him to find me dead in my kitchen, so I put the gun down, drove to the VA in Fargo,” he recalls. “And that began my journey, my long journey to recovery.”

The latest numbers from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs show in 2021, 91 veterans in Minnesota died by suicide — although some experts believe those figures may be underreported.

“Most of us are the first guys that will go ‘Do you need help, you need help?’ But we all are the last ones that ask for it,” says Brian Gjerde, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Ramsey.

Operation Zero says every dollar collected during Saturday’s event will go to veterans’ aid organizations, including Gateway Meadows Equine Assisted Services.

“Our goal is to get them out in nature with the horses,” says Executive Director Kathy Friedrich. “Sometimes they’re not connecting with people, but they start connecting with horses. A lot of that starts translating to the humans, where they start feeling alive again.”

Many veterans who spoke with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS say dialogue and sharing stories with each other or a professional, is a big help in healing.

“It’s game-changing for sure,” says Chris LaMotte, a Desert Storm veteran with the Minnesota National Guard.

LaMotte is the social performance director with the Magnus Veterans Foundation, a Minnesota non-profit that promotes healing and restoration for veterans and their families.

“Sometimes, we need to get that stuff out, and that really can be healing. I know it was for me,” he adds.

Just last month, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline reached the milestone of two years in service.

In that time, the lifeline says it answered more than 10 million texts, calls and chats nationwide.

Over a million of those calls came from veterans.

The 988 service has a direct line to support for veterans.

But on this day, at the Operation Zero event, there was camaraderie, healing, and even a flyover.

And perhaps the most powerful medicine — hope.

“Things like this are a huge godsend to people who need help,” Gjerde says.

You can find out more about Operation Zero here.