Omni Fundraiser page here! Let’s talk about the time bank project. That’s what the NWA Time Exchange we’re designing is. “Time Banking is a community-led innovation that uses time as currency. An hour of time provided to a Time Bank ‘earns’ a one-hour time credit that ‘buys’ an hour of another Time Bank participant’s time which may also be used to ‘buy’ other services.” (from a report from the Broadway Skills Exchange) Fayetteville is a perfect place for this to happen. We deeply value our sense of community, and the pandemic that’s isolated us is a painful reminder of what we’ve lost in connections to neighbors and friends. Timebank time exchanges can be organized to happen in a relatively covid-safe manner one-on-one or in small groups, sometimes outdoors, helping each other do things. Replacing storm windows for screens in a couple months, small repairs, garden help, offer to teach someone else a skill you have, drop off groceries…. lots of things we do for each other already.
What’s the difference? The time credits system means that when you teach somebody else to … use Excell maybe… you’ll connect with them through the Exchange’s webpage when you get an email that says “Peter Somebody would like a class on using Excell”. Maybe you don’t know Peter Somebody, but you look at his profile from the webpage and see that there’s something that lets you trust him. He may have traded services with somebody else you know recently, or live a block away from you. You connect with him through the system and agree that you’ll give him a lesson on his front porch tomorrow afternoon.
The lesson is really fun and Peter turns out to be a quick learner. When you get home, you go to the Exchange webpage and click a couple of buttons that confirm you successfully held the learning session. Peter goes to his computer and clicks buttons that confirm that you did the lesson for him. He also sends you a friendly note of thanks.
Now you have an hour of time credits stored in your account. What would you like to do with it? You read through the “Offers” page to see what other people are willing to help with and don’t see much you need until you get toward the bottom where a new entry says that Sharon Gardener has a bunch of tomatoes from her greenhouse that she’s willing to share with Exchange members. Tomatoes in January? You know you need to jump on that right away, so you just call Sharon, and within an hour you’re home with a lovely half dozen January tomatoes that you feel are worth every bit of the time credit you just spent on them.
An interesting advantage of the Exchange is that you don’t need to know the people you do exchanges with already. The Exchange helps with that. You’ll have opportunities to engage with new neighbors and people outside your current circle, People from different ethnic and culture groups have skills to offer too and this is an enjoyable way to connect across differences.
The Time Exchange is now being developed by a Design Team that just loves the potential of this concept. If you think it sounds interesting drop a note to omni@omnicenter.org and we’ll be sure you get notices as things are ready to open up. When covid is behind us we’ll include monthly potlucks or gatherings of different kinds and open a whole new way of connecting. Sure hoping all Omni folks are ready to try this new way of creating connected and cohesive community. What do you think?
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Omni Fundraiser page right here friends please donate!