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Members of Powerhouse Gym honored veterans by the numbers Thursday

Old Colony Memorial - 2/24/2018

Members of Powerhouse Gym honored veterans by the numbers Thursday.

As part of a national campaign to raise awareness about the rising number of veteran suicides, a group led by personal trainer Liz Sellinger paid respect with exercise.

The WOD22 event at the gym in Cedarville saw dozens of men and women performing 22 repetitions of 22 exercises, in recognition of the 22 veterans who die by suicide daily. The local event raised more than $650 for Ward 57, a Seattle, Washington-based group working to help veterans.

WOD22, held annually on Feb. 22, started three years ago. This was the first year that Powerhouse Gym has hosted the program, but Sellinger, a corrections officer who also works as a personal trainer at the gym, hopes to make it an annual event locally as well.

WOD stands for workout of the day.

After a short warm-up, participants worked through 22 sets of exercises such as burpees, jump squats, kettle ball swings, push-ups, lunges and sit-ups. Each workout lasted about 30 minutes, with a pause at 22 minutes after the hour for a moment of silence honoring military victims of suicide.

Sellinger said she got involved in the organization after her husband's drill sergeant died by suicide two years ago. Sellinger dedicated the workout event to the Cape Cod resident.

Sellinger said the sergeant's death had a ripple effect in her own family as her husband was diagnosed with post traumatic stress after the drill sergeant's death.

Sellinger said the suicides have largely been kept quiet, but people need to be aware of the price that so many veterans pay. Money raised during three different workout sessions Thursday will go to help the families of veterans who die by suicide or who attempt suicide.

"It helps out the veterans and their families because this doesn't only affect the person who deploys, it affects people in the household, too," Sellinger said.