 For more than 70 veterans were on Mantrap Lake for the third annual Walking on Water event. Lakeland News reporter Sherell Moore tells us how the day of fishing is impacting our servicemen and women. We take older vets, disabled vets, veterans from all branches and we get them back out on the ice. It's hard to draw veterans out and this is one of the really good ventures for doing that. Walking on water was started by a group of friends from Park Rapids about 3 years ago. The goal was simple, get our servicemen and women out in the great outdoors. I have not been ice fishing for 10 years so I get out here today and he says, there's a flag up, do you want it? So we'll get on out there and was able to pop a 31 inch northern. The first Walking on Water event had about 25 vets show up. This year there are about 70 to 100 vets from all different branches and all different eras. The oldest was about 93 years old. The vets are given the gear and they even get a free lunch. Most importantly, they get companionship. So we started taking vets out fishing and we noticed a big change in who they were, a big change in how they lived their life. Depression started to kind of fall beside, we started to make relationships with guys. When you get a group of veterans together there's a camaraderie that builds in you know it's nice to be around fellow soldiers that are served and fellow service members. Walking on Water says the event is possible because of the community. Over 70 volunteers showed up to help over the weekend and nearly everything is donated from the fish houses to the fishing poles. Really without the community stepping up and these people bringing their houses in this event doesn't happen. Walking on Water hopes to grow by bringing out even more vets in the future. Sebert says there are about 2,500 who live in the area and he would love to see them all. You know we're all brothers and sisters in arms, regardless of what branch we're in, what war we're in, how old we are, we all have this common bond and to be able to sit there and be around our fellow veterans that's what it's all about. Reporting from Mantrap Lake, Shawmore, Lakeland News. About 25 fish houses were donated to this year's event and to learn more about the events put on by Walking on Water, you can follow them on Facebook. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.