"time-bank"

[Sailor Moon]

I read an artivle some week ago, about a project who was popping up around angland (and apperently came in some form from america) and was about uniting communitys with they called a "time bank" (i think)
It seemed like a very sweet idea, they had talked to old ladies who before were bored pensionars, who had spent their days looking out of the windows at the neighbor boys and thought they all were burgulars who would steal the old ladies purses as soon as they get up, and as a result of the time bank they had started communication with the boys and they ended up helping the old ladies, driving them to the shops etc, in return for home made meals and stories.
And there was some other stories like that.
Does anyone recognise what i'm talking about? Is it well known there in England? And does it work?

 

[Meijin]

The only thing that springs to mind Sailor is the LETS which stands for (I think) Local Employment Transfer Scheme (?? could be wrong) which is a form of alternative currency system - people advertise their skills like gardening or dressmaking on a community board and other people employ them in return for a skill THEY have - like teaching ancient philosophy or skateboarding...could you mean this? LETS have become quite popular in the UK...

 

[Stuoolong]

I'd never heard of it before but decided to look it up on tinternet.

http://www.timebanks.co.uk/ seems to be a good place to start.

It does work rather like a LETS scheme but trades specifically on time. So if I spend two hours cleaning some old lady's kitchen, I then have accrued two credits in my time bank account and am entitled to two hours of someone else's time doing whatever skill they can offer that I need. The bank accounts are centrally administered.

They are very keen to emphasise that EVERYONE has something to offer. It's all full of positive fluffy language about ethnic inclusion, inspiring, community building etc. On the whole, sounds a winner to me! I'm not sure where it wins over LETS, or if LETS is better. Any ideas?

 

[Sailor Moon]

It's all full of positive fluffy language about ethnic inclusion, inspiring, community building etc.

It is indeed But does it really work?


As fo the two, mayby LETS seems a bit more "free", theres not some sortof system behind it, something that have to keep track of how money time-credits you have, but only people exchanging different skills. But on the other hand, to start up with the time-bank mayby is a good way to start, and then it will develop into a friendly alive community who doent need timecredits to help each other :tongue1:

 

[Lyra]

sounds interesting - i might just have a look!

 

[CarbonumJist]

Kinda grwvi idea alright!!
A useful step toward our ideal situation of communityies rejecting competition and going down the path of Co-operation, Love and Respect!