Making a Difference One Person at a Time
Just before Christmas, our sales team got a request for a single coin from a young boy named Liam. He saw a coin on our website and was hoping to buy one just like it. However, as we found out later on, he sent the request for artwork without parental permission. His mother emailed us to apologize and to let us know that they were not interested in buying any coins. Liam has autism, and, while he is very bright, his mother explained that he does not have a good concept of money.
After a few email exchanges, we found out that Liam has his own youtube channel and has taught himself Adobe Illustrator and After Effects. On his show, he interviews people from different countries, learns about their languages and then creates animations for the interviews from scratch. With an office full of artists, we all got pretty excited about checking out his channel, and we all loved his work.Once everyone in the office got talking about it, we quickly found a production sample of the coin Liam liked from our website sitting on a desk. With it being the Christmas season, we decided to send it over to him, with a couple of other fun coins, as a small gift of encouragement from one team of artists to another. We were impressed with Liam’s ability and creativity for such a young kid, and happy at the chance to, hopefully, make a small difference in his life through a simple act of kindness.
Custom coins are used in all kinds of different situations, but more than anything else, we think they are perfect for making a meaningful impact as a special gift. Groups of soldiers, business partners, marketing teams and regular friends around the neighborhood make custom coins to show off a bit of personality, to commemorate their friendships and sometimes to make a purposeful difference in someone’s life. One such group using coins to make a difference in the world is the Miami-Dade Police Department. Recently, they ordered a set of coins for their annual autism awareness fundraiser, and we were honored to help out by creating the perfect design.
Autism Awareness Challenge Coins
The Miami-Dade Police Department are no strangers to the challenge coin game. We have been given to opportunity to work with the department on several different projects, and the coins we help create are used in programs and fundraisers all throughout South Florida. The breast cancer awareness challenge coins we made with them helped raise over $10,000 last October, and we are honored that they considered us again when it came time to design these next coins.
For the autism awareness challenge coins, the Miami-Dade team are hoping for the same amount of success as the breast cancer awareness coins, if not more! The design itself is inspired by the familiar puzzle imagery used throughout autism awareness groups. There are all kinds of different perspectives on what the puzzle represents. Some say it represents the complexity of the autism spectrum and the different colors represent the diversity of the people and families living with the condition. Others say that it represents how people with autism can seem mysterious, or puzzling, to those who do not understand the condition and, on the flip side, how people living with autism sometimes have trouble understanding certain parts of the world.
The money raised with these coins will go towards helping to spread awareness and understanding of autism, to research on diagnosing autism in children, and to providing intervention services to families living with the condition whenever needed. What makes working on these coins, and other coins like this, so special for our team is that they are created solely for helping others and making a meaningful difference in the community. It’s always a pleasure working with the Miami-Dade Police Department, and we wish them the best of luck in their efforts these next few weeks during Autism Awareness Month.
Creating Custom Coins for a Cause
The Miami-Dade Police Department is not the only group we have worked with to help spread a group’s message and raise awareness for certain causes. Our artists have created unique challenge coins for non-profits all over the country, proving that custom coins are not just for big-name corporations. We are proud to help design and produce challenge coins that help make a difference in the world.
Whether it’s just making someone’s day by sending them the extra coins lying around the office, or helping design a unique set of coins for Miami-Dade’s autism awareness campaign, our team always feels fortunate when the opportunity to make a small difference in someone’s life with custom coins comes around.
