"The Power of Being Heard"
– A Songwriting with Soldiers Story
A guitar pick, struck in gold.
- Shape
- Guitar pick · 1.75" / 3mm
- Finish
- Polished gold, hard enamel
- Colors
- Black C · Orange 021 C · White C
- Use case
- Given to every veteran completing a retreat
“Brian didn’t talk about the coin like merchandise. He talked about it like a way to keep a promise — that no veteran leaves without knowing they were heard.”
The Story — Brian Magerkurth, Songwriting with Soldiers
Brian Magerkurth is chairman of the board of Songwriting with Soldiers, a nonprofit that helps U.S. military veterans work through PTSD and other mental health challenges. At retreats held around the country, veterans spend a few hours one-on-one with a professional songwriter — most from Nashville — turning their hardest stories from Iraq or Afghanistan into an original song. Some have lost an arm. Some have lost a friend. One lost a spouse in the war. Talking it through, and hearing it come back as music, is the therapy.
Brian wanted every veteran to leave with more than a song. So the organization created a coin: "The Power of Being Heard" on one side, "Helping Our Veterans, Supporting Our Veterans" on the other. Every veteran who completes a retreat receives one.
The coin does something Brian didn’t fully expect. Two veterans who’ve never met can cross paths years apart, each holding the same coin, and know instantly they were both at a retreat. Brian keeps a photo of an entire retreat group, every coin in every hand, and describes it simply: "keep the song going." Brian has used this same coin design for three different events so far, reordering as supplies run low, and can speak to the reason behind each order. He has purchased challenge coins from MetalPromo before this one as well.
On the design and ordering process, Brian described MetalPromo’s design system as "above reproach" — every time he’s submitted an idea, the design team has come back with a strong first pass, and revisions have typically been resolved within an hour or so.
On quality: Brian noted that coins arrive individually packaged and well-protected ("pretty sturdy... even a couple hundred coins in one box"), and that colors and detail have held up well on his other MetalPromo coins over several years of use.
“There’s a powerful message to the individual who’s sharing their story with the songwriter — when the songwriter listens and writes a song, the veteran feels like they’ve been heard.”
When offered a thank-you for the interview, Brian asked that it be donated directly to Songwriting with Soldiers rather than kept for himself.
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