From event organizers:
Asheville TimeBank Celebrates its Second Birthday
Have you ever wished you could get some of your needs met without exchanging cash? On Monday, August 28, the Asheville TimeBank is celebrating its second birthday! The party will be a potluck supper at 6 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church Fellowship room on Evelyn Way (off Charlotte St.) Just curious? Already a member? All are welcome. Two members will be baking cakes, one gluten free. The bakers will receive Timebank credit for the time spent shopping and cooking.
“Timebanking is catching on in Asheville now — we have nearly 160 members and are continuing to grow,” says Janet Black, one of the co-founders of the organization, and a previous coordinator of a timebank in Louisiana. “With the Asheville TimeBank, people are providing services to one another outside the cash economy. This is building local resilience in our community. For example, one of our members loves to sew. She banked her hours doing alterations for one member, and then spent her hours having another member install a raised bed in her garden.” According to Black, other exchanges have involved such diverse services as holistic healing, pie baking, yard work, office organization, computer assistance, electrical repairs, organizing a yard sale, dog-sitting, and rides to the airport.
At the birthday celebration, people will share stories about exchanges they have enjoyed making, and there will be an activity that helps people match their talents with others’ needs.
Asheville TimeBank holds monthly potlucks for new and old members. Anyone can join online at www.ashevilletimebank.org, with a self-orientation package, or can receive an in-person orientation by request. “We hold potlucks so that our members, new and old, can meet and get to know each other,” says Shine Maphet, another co-founder. “People are much more likely to set up an exchange when they have met face to face.”
Timebanks exist all over the U.S. and the world, and the more diverse they are, the greater is the variety of talents and skills the members can offer one another. In timebanking, no goods are exchanged, and each person’s hour is equivalent to everyone else’s hour. “Everyone has a skill to share, whether you are elderly or a teenager,” said Maphet, “and everyone needs a service someone else might enjoy providing.”
For more information, and to apply to join the Asheville TimeBank: www.ashevilletimebank.org. The group also has a facebook page.
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