Mid Maine TimeBank

Regarding an Associated Press news story on timebanking June 3, 2010, found at:

http://www.midmetimebank.org/asspressarticle.htm

I was one of many TimeBank coordinators interviewed nationally, and I would like to add these further comments:

In response to a recent Associated Press article by Michael Rubinkam in last Sundays edition (6/6, “‘Banks’ deal in time, not cash”, I wish to let readers know that there is much more to the story of Time Banking, happening right here in Maine. In April, the founder of Time Banking, Edgar Cahn, visited the University of Maine at Augusta for a riveting economic symposium, “Making Ends Meet,” sharing his vision first sprouted in the 1980’s and now exploding, through the use of Internet technology. He calls for a partnership of currencies, the US Dollar working alongside the local “Time Dollar,” to fully express our human capacity, and teaches that competition must be balanced with collaboration. Along with the UMA community, members from five time banks in Maine attended the UMA symposium or other events during Cahn’s visit: Hour Exchange Portland, MerryMeeting Community Shares in Bath/Brunswick, Thrive Time Bank in Lewiston, Waldo Exchange (Waldo County) and Mid Maine TimeBank in Waterville (covering all of Kennebec, Somerset and Penobscot counties), who helped arrange the Maine events.

Hundreds of Mainers and many thousands of time bankers worldwide are finding that time banks offer a wide network of services and possibilities, and that Time Banking offers real solutions. Rather than turn blue waiting for the government or corporations to help us, fighting for crumbs, we have decided to help ourselves. We trade our time on an equal basis, an hour for an hour. We place a value on things that we as a society need to value – caring for and honoring children, parents and the disenfranchised, artistic endeavor, acts of kindness and making democracy accountable -- things that the cash economy does not. We have realized that money cannot buy us love, trust, or a sense of belonging or meaning to our lives. It cannot bring us community, our health, or safety. Money can disappear in the blink of an eye. Over the last forty years, our entire nation has seen a decline in social capital, a dissolving of local support and natural reciprocity. Along the way to prosperity, we lost our trust in our neighbor, our politicians, and our government. We lost our center by becoming disengaged. We have always prided ourselves on self-reliance, but it is an illusion; it has made us lose sight of community and unable to ask for help without shame.

Time, however, is up to us, and it remains constant. We can decide how we spend it. Time Banking offers us a new model of the old way of bartering, one that does not judge or classify worth, and reinvigorates volunteerism. We need each other; we need to be valued for everything that we are, and together, we have a wealth of opportunity at our fingertips. Join a time bank near you today, or start one of your own in your neighborhood. The more the merrier. As Edgar Cahn reminds us, “We have what we need if we use what we have.”

Stacey Jacobsohn

Coordinator, Mid Maine TimeBank