Celebrating DePaul's 125th Anniversary

HISTORY

The Shared Coin Tradition was started in celebration of DePaul University’s 125th anniversary. Each year on Foundation Day, January 25, a new coin is released.

Any DePaul student, faculty or staff member can go to one of our distribution locations and pick up coins to share with a person or several people they witness living DePaul’s mission.

Coin recipients may elect to keep it or may choose to pass it on when they see someone else living the mission in a meaningful way.

This is a special way to tell someone else, “I see you! I see DePaul’s mission and the Vincentian spirit within you. That light is radiating out to me. Thank you. I think it is important that I acknowledge you.”

The Shared Coin Tradition is modeled after Vincent de Paul's metaphor of the scarred coin which represented the individuals he served, their inherent dignity, and the investment he made into honoring and uplifting that dignity. Read below to learn more.

THE STORY OF THE SCARRED COIN

Human dignity is at the core of our Vincentian mission. When Vincent was asked “why help this disheveled old man or why help the poor among us?” his response was, “Because you’ve seen through to the other side of the coin.”

Vincent used the metaphor of a beat-up, dented, scratched, scarred, and very common coin to describe the way that those marginalized by any human system may be seen and treated by the world. He suggested that one must pick up that coin and turn it over to reveal a brilliance and beauty of the other side.

So it is with individuals. Vincent challenges us to move beyond the surface of societal narratives that distort our perceptions of others. He encourages us to not limit ourselves to our initial experience with a human being. We are called to dig deeper, to listen fully, to acknowledge a person’s real value and treat them with the sacredness they merit. We are invited to “turn the coin” and see the dignity in all people.