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Thanks, And Keep The Change

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By ANGELA DELGADO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

ODESSA - Tech. Sgt. Mark Bordwine was setting up for MacDill Air Force Base's annual Air Fest 2008 when a woman walked up to him and handed him a commemorative coin.

She thanked him for his service and for keeping our country safe.

"It was touching," Bordwine said. "I've been in the military for 17 years, and that was the first time somebody had come out of the blue and said 'thank you for what you do.'"

Catching military personnel off guard isn't Deborah Benson's mission; showing them their country's appreciation for their commitment is. She was the woman who suddenly approached Bordwine - and the woman behind Grateful American Coin, a nonprofit organization that aims to provide a tangible "thank you" for those who serve their country.

"Being patriotic and not serving in the military, I wanted to show my appreciation," said Benson, who lives in Odessa.

Benson's link to these coins began when a friend's daughter, who is in the Air Force, was moved when she received an appreciation coin from a civilian on the street. Benson said that motivated her to find those coins and hand them out.

She found and bought appreciation coins from another company, and on the Fourth of July last year her sons Max, 5, and Brock, 7, gave coins to guardsmen at MacDill and thanked them. Benson, who works for Verizon Wireless, went home and told her husband, Bill, what they had done. He said they should find a cheaper version and design it themselves.

Bill Benson, a programmer for a contractor for the Department of Defense, designed a new coin - which has an American flag and a bald eagle on one side and the five branches of the military on the other. The coins are made of brass and composites and come in gold or silver tones.

In order to get their coins made, the couple had to purchase at least 1,000 of them. They decided to buy 2,000 coins and sell them to benefit veterans organizations: America's VetDogs Veteran's K-9 Corps and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. VetDogs focuses on training guide dogs to give to special-needs veterans. The Warrior Foundation provides grants and financial aid to children who lost a parent during combat or training.
Bill Benson designed a Web site for the Grateful American Coin organization, and it launched in December. They have sold 4,700 coins at $7 each, or $60 for a pack of 10. Deborah Benson said 100 percent of the net proceeds go to the veterans organizations.

"To me, exchanging coins is a long-standing tradition," Deborah Benson said. "Coins in the military have great significance. What we're providing is a way for a civilian to show appreciation using the significance of a coin. People have coins that they carry forever. I have people tell me that the only time they don't have them is in the shower."

Bordwine has 22 coins, but he doesn't carry them with him. He has them displayed on his desk at home, he said. He said the coins are usually presented by military personnel for good performance or by organizations as a reward for helping with one of their functions.

"With this one, they pick you out of the blue, thank you and give you the coin," Bordwine said. It tells him "that people from the community actually care about what you're doing in your military job."

Bordwine said he ordered 10 for his mother, who lives near the Patrick Air Force Base on the east coast of Florida. She plans to hand them out to anybody in uniform, he said.

Retired Tech. Sgt. Charles "Bud" Ortelt of Seffner also has been purchasing coins from Benson. So far he has bought 60 and has handed them out to friends who served in the Vietnam War, his brother in Orlando, and to his wife's nephew, who returned from Iraq last year.

Ortelt also has received coins in the past, but he said the Bensons' coin is different. The others usually depict one military branch or unit, but the ones from the Bensons showcase all five in one.

"These you can give to any branch or service," Ortlet said. "It shows unity between all five branches of service; it wasn't just made for one."

Ortelt received a coin from the Bensons sons.

"Coming from Deb's two boys, it meant more to me," he said. Ortelt said he plans on displaying the gold-toned coin the boys gave him alongside a silver one he purchased.

The coins are "a memento of what we went through in the military," he said. "Between the military and civilian life, it's a completely different kind of life. The coins bring back memories of life."

Anyone interested in purchasing the coins can visit www.gratefulamerican coin.org.

Reporter Angela Delgado can be reached at (813) 865-1501 or adelgado@tampatrib.com.

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