Smiles and Sunshine

Smiles and sunshine, two things you can find on the beach every morning. Whether it is tourists experiencing what the shore has to offer, children splashing amongst the incoming surf, or locals in search of their favorite shells, if you find yourself on the south end of the beach in early morning hours, you just might run into a man on a mission of his own.

Ben ‘Benji’ Hilgendorf was working in Goodland at Freedom Boat Club and Safe Harbor simultaneously when he got hurt. A freak accident that he was lucky to have survived left him with a mountain of surgeries and rehabilitations to climb.

Six years since that fateful day, he has undergone six surgeries, with more scheduled, and has had fusions throughout his body. A less determined man may have given up, but not Benji.

He has had a love for Marco Island ever since attending Tommie Barfield Elementary. Currently residing in Goodland, he is a self-proclaimed nature lover and needs to be on the water. He is a commercial fisherman by trade, taught for UCLA and SeaWorld, and is a college grad, “Nature's just in my system,” he says.

“I always had this dream that I wanted to live close to the Marco River and have an entire house covered with straight conch shells.” While on workman’s comp, he had an idea: “I'm going to decorate all of Goodland in the process!”

Needing something to do in between surgeries, combined with the need to stay in shape for them, the physical therapy of collecting shells began. “We have the lovely south end of the beach right here in our backyard!”

Determination met its match with Benji, as his will remained razor sharp in between each surgery. After clearance and armed with only a backpack, he would be on the beach between 4:30-5:00 AM daily to begin collecting.

“My original mission was just ‘smiles and sunshine.’ I was put in one of the worst situations ever in my life and I'm trying to give back and build myself up a little bit.”

After his last surgery in October, the doctors said it will be a minimum of one more year and a half until he is approved and ready to get back to work; he intends to return to his previous job. He is waiting on a second opinion for his lower back, now on its fifth set of injections, which will most likely require surgery number seven. He has been using that time to pick away at his neighborhood, one house and one project at a time.

Benji keeps a logbook, already filled with 365 days of each shell he has collected on South Beach. “I'm targeting one species and it's just how the structure of the beach is there. Everything washes up off the rocks and the conch shells are everywhere.”

So far, his beautification has included landscaping at neighbors and friends’ houses, around palm trees, and lining of a pool fence.

A true standout is a gorgeous walkway entirely covered in shells in front of an apartment building. This walkway caps out at 1,000 square feet, vying to be the largest conch shell path in the state!

Strictly collecting and using the fighting conch for his work, as he feels it is the most native to Florida, he thinks his art is a true southern Florida thing to do. “It takes a beach person to take something out of absolutely nothing and beautify the whole neighborhood in the process. You ain't going to see anything like it anywhere but in Goodland right now!”

There is something to be said of the healing properties contained in nature and within the sun and the sands. With his own recovery beating the odds with its strength and tenacity, he attributes this shelling as a key piece, “It depends what you subscribe to but there's some God in the whole thing.” He went on to share that in addition to his own recovery in line with placing shells at his residence, one of the homes he beautified belonged to a woman undergoing a bad bout of chemo. Shortly after the shells were placed, she began to get better. Another neighbor was also going through some health complications, and began to heal after the shells were placed, “It has something to do with nature and spirituality,” said Benji. “This is for the people that are going through hell right now and I'm bringing the spirituality to their house.”

“I got baptized at the little Goodland church. I finally put my foot down to everything and knew that I was allotted this time for a reason.” He took the hand he was dealt with grace.

Engaging in his community, he discussed a few flower beds that he has beautified for some of his older or disabled neighbors. Some of whom have lost a spouse, “I'm bringing the beach back to people that can't get out to it.” Now giving them a special place to visit in their own yard.

His biggest fan and aunt, Debbie Waldinger, who was a teacher on the Island for many years, has watched him proudly and spoken of his character, “He is always active. He goes fishing and teaches the little kids how to fish. He is just a wonderful person.”

He would also gift unique shells and finds to kids on the beach or those within his church, as he focused his attention on the fighting conch. Each morning called complete only after a five-gallon bucket was filled. One five-gallon bucket every day for 365 days in a row. This equates to three entire dump trucks of shells in weight, all collected by one person with a backpack.

When asked if he would continue his mission once he is clear to return to work, he emphatically said yes! “This is a lifetime project! That's my mark on Goodland.”

“There's health and healing behind this stuff. I have spent more than 365 days down there at sunrise. It helped to heal the soul more than anything. My body's still tore up and I'm going through all sorts of physical stuff but for the head – it helped.” Giving credit to the healing properties of nature, he went on, “There's something to be said about being that content and being in nature. There's just something about it that ties everything together.”

Smiles and sunshine may be found on the beach, but Benji proves that you can bring them wherever you are, proving that no matter what the odds are against you, with enough determination, you can do anything you put your mind to.

**Benji poses a fun math problem to the readers: “A one-gallon bag of shells is roughly 60 shells. A gallon of shells covers roughly one square foot. So how many shells would it take to be in that thousand-foot pile that I have at the apartment in Goodland?” Bonus Question: One gallon of shells weighs five pounds, so how much is the approximate weight?

A fun equation, and to get your answer verified, you may need to stop Benji next time you see him on South Beach!