Welcome to Medals4Mettle! Thank you for visiting us!

Medals4Mettle (M4M) (medals4mettle.org) receives medals donated by endurance athletes, and then awards them to encourage courageous children and adults fighting serious illnesses like cancer. The medal symbolizes the donor’s acknowledgment of  the mettle (courage, bravery, resilience, spirit) exhibited by the recipient.  The medal also conveys mutual inspiration between the donor and the recipient, and an expression of compassion and kindness from one human being to another in a time of crisis. Our M4M team enables that human connection. During the pandemic, Medals4Mettle expanded its mission and  is awarding thousands of medals to courageous frontline workers. 

With over 70 community chapters worldwide and nine medical school chapters, Medals4Mettle has awarded over 60,000 medals to children and adults in over 80 hospitals worldwide. M4M (founded in 2005)  has received national recognition over the past 15 years: (2013) the National Jefferson Award for Public Service; (2013) the Jerome Goldstein Award for Public Service from the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery; (2009) the Arnold P. Gold Humanism in Medicine Award; (2008) the first Recipient of the Human Race Award, Runner’s World Magazine. M4M has received several matching corporate grants and endowments. Medals4Mettle’s mission has also been adapted to teach philanthropy to elementary school students, award medals to children at Ronald McDonald Houses, burn camps, Special Olympics, and teach humanistic behavior to medical students. (http://alphaomegaalpha.org/pharos/2018/Summer/2018-3-Isenberg.pdf)

Medals4Mettle is located in Indianapolis, Indiana. For more information about Medals4Mettle in your community or medical/dental/graduate school, please email steve@medals4mettle.org.

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A Poem for Medals4Mettle 

I want to open the door,
To a beautiful spring day,
Sweeping leaves off the
Threshold,
That wilted where they lay.

Rising from your pillow,
For pleasure, not for pain.
Replacing the scent of sick,
With that of a newborn rain.

Watching your patient eyes,
In shallow sockets roll,
Viewing a colorful ribbon-
Lifting your soul.

Taking you for a moment,
Where courage needs no place,
Watching this gifted medal,
Bring a smile to your face.

Steven F. Isenberg MD
Founder