POST FALLS - The moisture in Kristopher King's eyes was partially because he didn't get a wink of sleep while setting up for Saturday's Veterans' Stand Down.

It was also because serving area veterans means so much to him. And being a 34-year-old Army vet, it's easy to understand why.

"The main thing is you have a lot of veterans that are going through different adversities," King said. "There's a lot of things they're struggling with, especially veterans that are coming home now. A lot of them are dealing with survivor's guilt and their suicide rate is through the roof."

A Stand Down is an event where people in the community can give back to those who have served in the armed forces. Its title is a military term, meaning rest, rehabilitation and return from combat. The Stand Down took place within and on the grounds of the Bitterroot Building in Post Falls. Clothing, fresh food and health services were provided to homeless vets and those in need, but any veteran was welcome.

King said that regardless if a veteran is from WWII or the current campaigns in Iraq or Afghanistan, "I feel that potentially having this event, having them participate, can change their outlook on the benefits that are available in the community and that potentially just might stop them from trying to suck start a firearm, you know, another way of saying suicide."

King and Cody Cohen are the chair and co-chair of the Veterans' Stand Down Committee. King said he and Cohen felt that it was important to have actual veterans organizing an event that helps other vets.

"When you have people that aren't veterans that are on the committee trying to do things for the veterans, it's very hard for them to make that connection because they don't have that experience and they can't relate," King said. So he and Cohen stepped up and reached out to the community.

"There was a possibility that the Stand Down wasn't going to go, so we showed up at the end of the year after they had done all the debriefings and said that we wanted to do it again," Cohen said. The former Marine explained the focus used to be mainly on homeless veterans, and that today "it's more about the veteran."

About 300 volunteers and many community entities came together for the Stand Down, including Second Harvest, St. Vincent de Paul, United Way of Kootenai County, American Legion Riders from Post Falls and Spokane, the Coeur d'Alene Elks, the Trading Company and more. King played patriotic music from artists like Johnny Cash to honor his fellow veterans.

The Bitterroot Building was lined with giant cardboard boxes filled with clothing items and other living necessities. In the building, organic stylist Diana Clark of Coeur d'Alene donated her time by providing 40 haircuts. She cut 70-year-old Navy vet Bill Smithe's hair early in the afternoon, when people began clearing out and packing up.

"This is a great time for me because everybody else is gone," Smithe said. He had never been to a Stand Down. "I think the people here are the most fantastic. Stuff is just stuff."

Clark has participated in the Stand Down for three years. She said she was happy to do it because her father was in the Navy and it's a way for her to honor him.

"It's nice to give back," she said. "These guys are doing everything for our country."

John Davis, manager of Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center's Health Care for Homeless Veterans team, said the event was "sweet."

"We got people signed up, we got a lot of veterans in, we had a lot of homeless veterans come, we also worked with the tribe next door and had a lot of Native Americans come over, so that was really cool to have them as partners," he said. "We can't do this without the community support in the area."

Davis is a retired Air Force officer who fought in Vietnam and the Gulf War. He said the late John Dunlap, former Post Falls American Legion commander, began the stand downs in the area back in 1999.

"We wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for John," he said.

Several thousand area vets have benefited from the Stand Down since its inception. More than 1,000 veterans and their dependents were served during Saturday's event.