A former Florida Gator swimmer, Craig Ridenhour found a reason to get back in the water after years of not swimming laps. 

Ridenhour logged thousands of miles in the pool as a college kid at the University of Florida.

He contributed to the Gators four consecutive SEC titles from 1990-93.

“Once I got done at Florida," he said, "I got done training at Florida, I trained really hard, I was kinda burned out. The only time I’d get in the water was if I was at the beach or if I was showering.”

He’s been in the water a lot more recently.

“Right now I’m swimming three times a week, just doing a little bit of yardage. I’m actually gonna try to do another charity event,” he explained.

Ridenhour swims now to raise awareness for something that’s close to his heart. 

“I’d find myself in the pool at 5 a.m.," he mentioned, "which I hadn’t done in decades and I was even in the pool 8-8:30 at night a few times. Probably at my age now, I wouldn’t have found myself doing laps at that time of night but it’s for a great cause.”

Matthew Ridenhour, Ridenhour’s younger brother, is also a former U.S. Marine who served for 11 years. 

Craig Ridenhour has seen the struggles of life outside of the military. 

“The silent struggle they deal with," he said, "and a lot of situations most people do because it’s taboo.”

The silent struggle that his brother and other veterans are facing is why Ridenhour is bringing awareness to the “Stop Soldier Suicide” campaign.

“I was looking for something that would maybe allow me to get back in the water, maybe bring awareness to a cause, raise some potential funds to help that cause and that’s how I found the Stop Soldier Suicide initiative,” he said. 

The veteran-ran organization provides support to veterans like Matthew Ridenhour. 

After some research, Craig Ridenhour found out he can swim 25 miles through a Facebook challenge by USAA to raise money and awareness for the cause last month.

“June 30, I finished my last swim. I did 60 miles for the month and I had raised just shy of $6,000," Ridenhour said. "It far exceeded any expectations I had. If it helped one person being in the military or a family member that has someone in the military for them to reach out and put their arm around someone or for someone in the military to reach out to this organization to get some help, it was all worth it,” he said. 

Ridenhour raised more money in the month of June than he anticipated but he has his eyes set on raising more funds to help the organization help more veterans. People can follow his Facebook fundraiser page at fundraiser for Stop Soldier Suicide.