The Caring Coin

The Caring Coin came in a dream...
One night I had a dream. I was holding a wooden coin. Engraved on the coin was an angel and the message You are never alone...

This dream was so real that when I woke up, I looked for the coin. When I couldn’t find it, I realized that I had been dreaming. I was a little perplexed by the dream...Why a wooden coin? Perhaps because wood is warm and of the earth...Why an angel? Perhaps, because an angel can be a guardian, caring person...And what about the message...You are never alone? Perhaps because we can all feel alone at one time or another... I tried to tuck the dream away and go about my day. But this was not to be...this dream kept coming back urging me share these coins and the message You are never alone...

And so the journey of the Caring Coin began...

I asked a friend to draw an angel, a free flowing angel. I then set out to find someone who could inscribe the angel and the message on the wooden coin so that one could feel the angel and the message. It was important to me that the coins be crafted in Vermont.

Once I had the coins, I wasn’t sure what I should do with them. Initially, I shared them with family and friends who accepted them warmly. I then shared them randomly, sometimes to people I didn't know. I was soon to learn that sharing this little wooden coin offered hope whether shared in an open exchange of caring from one person to another or as a silent gesture that impacts both the giver and the recipient forever.

This became clear to me when I placed a Caring Coin on each of the side rails of my Mother's bed as she struggled with Alzheimer's disease. Once the beautiful, confident matriarch of our family, she was now a fragile, frightened, child-like shell of the person she once was, unable to remember anyone. When Mommy looked at the coin hanging on the side rail of her bed, she smiled and said "There’s my angel." A calmness came over her. The Caring Coin had done what words could not do...it touched something deep inside of her. When Mommy died, I shared the coins with our family at her funeral. I thought this was the purpose of the coins, now I could put this dream to rest...

But this was not to be...this dream kept coming back urging me share these coins and the message You are never alone...

And share I did...Caring Coins went to our troops going to Iraq, patients in hospitals and hospice programs and to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. They began to take on a life of their own...showing up in the darnedest places. More and more people were asking for Caring Coins to share...

As I witnessed people sharing the coins with each other I became aware of the importance of this caring connection. This inspired me to draw the Me to You figures which became our logo and the Me to You Caring Coins.

And so, The You Are Never Alone Foundation was born...

I continue to share Caring Coins today. ...I always have a couple in my pocket and a supply in my car. Each time I share one, the person receiving the coin seems to understand the message that they aren’t alone and somehow as I share the coin I know that I am not alone as well...

I invite you to share a Caring Coin...

These are but a few who have felt the magic of the Caring Coins...

• high school students who waited tables with the gratuities going toward Caring Coins for foster children.
• a young man who has struggled with substance abuse who has his coin hanging in his truck as a reminder he’s not alone.
• the lady in the bakery whose eyes filled with tears when she read the message and said "You don’t know how much I needed to hear this today."
• the young girl whose mother had recently died who shared Caring Coins with her father and sister as a reminder of her mother.
• the young salesman who was having a very bad day who smiled and said the coin already made his day better.
• the 7 day old baby at Ben & Jerry’s who smiled when I gave his mother an Angel Caring Coin.
• the lady at the Motor Vehicle Bureau who said the Caring Coin would help her get through the day.
• the man at the photography store who after seeing a Caring Coin told me about his little girl who had died and asked for Caring Coins for himself, his wife and daughter as a reminder of their little angel.
• the friend who isn’t a fan of touchy feely but loves being reminded that someone cares about her.
• the daughter who gave a coin to her mother as she began to loose her eyesight. Her mother loves that she can feel the angel and the message. She won’t go anywhere without her Caring Coin.
• the woman who says that the Caring Coin centers her.
• the woman who shared the coins with her nieces who hung them on their Christmas tree.
• the group of youths who shared coins with veterans at a Veterans Home and were amazed to hear the stories the veterans had to tell. Each felt good about sharing with each other.
• the mother whose autistic son carries his Caring Coin with him everywhere he goes. Somehow, he feels better going to school with his coin in his pocket.
• the girl who was struggling with cancer who keeps her Caring Coin in her hand as she undergoes chemotherapy.
• the aunt who gave coins to her twin godsons, one of whom is battling drug addiction. The boys say the coins help them with their struggle, reminding them they are not alone.
• the man with dementia wears his coin and calls it his Vermont power.
• the young girl away at school says the coin reminds her she is not alone and helps her through her everyday struggles.
• the care recipient at home who received a coin from her volunteer said "No one will ever know how much this coin means to me. God bless the person who gave this to me."
• the young man at the store who chose the Me to You coin as a reminder of the person who gave it to him.
• the folks at the post office who have carried the coins with them from the beginning.
• the girl gave a Caring Coin to her friend when she broke up with her boyfriend to remind her she wasn’t alone.
• the young man wears his Caring Coin around his neck and shares them with the homeless people he works with.
• the veteran in the hospital who gave his coin to his wife and then pondered the message You are never alone and came to realize that he probably was not alone in going through what he was going through with his illness. He requested another Caring Coin to keep for himself.
• the man on the street who after receiving a Caring Coin kept touching the coin and smiling as he walked down the block.
• the angry youth who was taken back when he received a Caring Coin and walked away with a smile on his face reflecting about the “crazy old lady” who gave him the coin.
• the soldier who received a Caring Coin with the name of the grandson of his high school English teacher written on the back of the coin.
• The young salesman in the store who asked if he could wear it around his neck as a reminder of the person who gave it to him.

The stories continue...

We invite you to share your stories...

Email us : Share@YouAreNeverAloneFoundation.org