A Judge's Verdict: Challenge Coins

Most people don’t like the idea of being in the same room with a judge, but if you were to meet Justice of the Peace Blake Sylvia in person, he’d likely be serving you a Challenge Coin instead of a sentence.

Judge Sylvia is hailed as a hero in the Chambers TX area and is the founder of the #LoveThyNeighbor campaign.   Under Sylvia’s encouragement, locals have been pooling their time, resources and talent to help others.  Since the beginning of viral outbreak, they’ve served thousands in their community.  Their payment?  A shiny new challenge coin, compliments of Judge Sylvia.

Sylvia started the group in June 2020 as a response to the wave of unemployment caused by the virus.

[…] our neighbors started losing their jobs because of the virus – we wanted a system in place to help them feed their family for a few days until other resources were available.”

In 2020 fashion, the #LoveThyNeighbor community gathers on Facebook to maintain social distancing. In this online forum, people’s various needs are made public. These can range from a child who doesn’t have any toys for Christmas, to a disabled couple who needs help building a wheel chair ramp into their house. People from all over the county then jump in and meet the need.

Sylvia has the best job of anyone in the group; rewarding the participants. He reached out to us to make a challenge coin honoring people who gone above and beyond to help someone else. Sylvia snaps of a photo of the generous person with their coin, writes a short story about their act of kindness, and posts it on the #LoveThyNeighbor Facebook group. As a result, it inspires others to see how they can help.

You can see some of the beautiful people and families who have stepped in to make a difference in these photos:

• One kind lady handmade over 1,400 masks for the community.
• A young man refurbished used shoes and donated them to teens who couldn’t afford them.
• A group of hairstylists started offering free haircuts.
• Two small boys hosted a lemonade stand and raised $600 to donate to the Child Welfare Board.
• Sylvia himself loaded his truck full of pallets of water and donated them to people evacuating during hurricane Laura.

These are just handful of the efforts being made by the #LoveThyNeighbor movement. We are beyond impressed with the accomplishments of Judge Sylvia and the people he has inspired.

The process is simple, and you don’t have to be an artist. We have a fully staffed team of graphics designers that will help and guide you through the process, and the best part is that it’s FREE! You can get started by clicking the link below.