The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce honors Eric Ridgway as August’s Volunteer of the Month for his service to our community. Eric, as many of us know, is the director of the Long Bridge Swim, an event he founded in 1995 when he talked 68 of his closest friends into swimming across the lake next to the Long Bridge. At the time, a lot of people thought he was crazy, but the event has grown over the years and last Saturday there were 881 swimmers registered for the event!
The Swim is a very complex event to stage, requiring the efforts of over 300 volunteers and the assistance of the Bonner County Sheriff’s Department Marine Division and regular deputies, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, Bonner County EMS, Bonner General Hospital, over 100 kayakers, logistics, food, music, timing, registration, transportation, etc. Additionally, this past year the LBS made the transition to being a year-round program with the development of their swim lessons initiative that has been so generously supported by their sponsors and swimmers.
Eric was born in Roanoke Virginia, and grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia. Eric attended Colby College in Maine where he studied geology and was the captain of his college swim team. When Eric was 13 he had gone to Africa for a month and as a young adult, taking a break from studies, he returned to Kenya for about a year as a teacher. This experience was what led him to eventually become a therapist. Eric began working with struggling and at risk teens, moved west to be in the mountains and completed his Master’s Degree in Counseling at WSU. Eric has been a professional counselor in Sandpoint since 1991.
He continues his love of swimming by devoting much of his free time as the director of the Long Bridge Swim. Eric hikes a great deal and enjoys rock collecting and bird watching with wife Cindy, who proposed marriage to him after she completed the 9thAnnual Long Bridge Swim. They were married the following year in 2004.
Eric has volunteered tirelessly in the Sandpoint Area, with the Long Bridge Swim, Festival at Sandpoint, Human Rights Task Force and Panida Theater, to name just a few. He also aided the local High School lacrosse team, by offering to become a referee to assist the organization in getting started here in Sandpoint. He helped found the Sandpoint Vegetarians and along with the Swim, his dearest passion is supporting the Panhandle Animal Shelter.
“Eric is the most enthusiastic, positive, energetic and fun person I know!” exclaimed Jim Zuberbuhler. “Eric, I can think of no other person more deserving of the Volunteer of the Month award. Congratulations!”
Please join the Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce in congratulating Eric Ridgway in being honored as the Volunteer of the Month and thanking him for all of his contributions to our community. His hard work has done a lot for so many causes and the economic vitality in our community. Thank you Eric!
Photo: Eric Ridgway accepts the award from Chamber Board Member Jim Zuberbuhler.
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