BILLINGS — The Billings Salvation Army is celebrating a generous donation that was made at one of their drop-off locations last week in the form of a unique gold coin.
The coin, which Salvation Army Capt. Colin Pederson said is a Gold Buffalo Coin, is valued at nearly $2,600 and will help the nonprofit hand out more meals to those in need this holiday season.
The donation was made anonymously at Scheels on Friday, much to the excitement of Darwin Nissen, who was the volunteer ringing the bell that day.
"A guy came up to me and said, 'Make sure you check the kettle really good,'" Nissen said Tuesday morning while ringing his bell once again outside Scheels. "He said, 'This is more than just a quarter.'"
Nissen said the individual acted fast and that he didn't even notice how special the coin truly was.
"He put it in there and walked away," Nissen said. "I didn't even see him drop it in. I found out later just how valuable it was."
When Pederson arrived to pick up the bucket and swap out the volunteers, Nissen alerted him that there might be something with extra value inside his bucket.
"We went back to the office and had one of my helpers there with me sorting through it," Pederson said with a smile. "We found a Gold Buffalo coin in there."
To be sure, Pederson took it to a store in town to assess the value. He never could've imagined the results.
"They said it was $2,600," Pederson said. "I was very, very much in shock."
Pederson said that much money equates to about 13,000 more meals the nonprofit can hand out this holiday season.
"I was just really blown away at the value and generosity somebody had to drop a coin of that value into the bucket," Pederson said.
Pederson said that while he's heard of special donations like this one from other places around the country, in his 20 years of service he's never seen one for himself.
"We were really thrilled to have a donation of that nature and it really helped us get closer to our goal this year," Pederson said.
