Isabel Macomber began considering the idea of a time bank when she was part of the transition town movement in Damariscotta.
The global Transition Network is a growing group of communities working to address the current issues of climate change and the decreasing supply of cheap energy from fossil fuels and other limited resources.
A time bank is a membership organization in which participants exchange services on an hour-for-hour basis. Each member’s time is equal in value to that of any other participant.
The hour-for-hour exchange redefines work that has been “undervalued or not valued in the market economy,” according to the agreement Mid Maine TimeBank members sign.
“All the time spent helping others is valued, honored and recorded, including attending meetings, driving to an exchange, or other things you do ‘because you love it.’
Until we say that our time given for each other and our community has value, society as a whole will not value it either,” the agreement states.
Members receive one time-credit for each hour worked, regardless of the task. When the time comes for a member to request a service, the credit will be used to compensate the member who provides that service.
While many time bank transactions focus on one member doing work for another individual, some group activities such as community or neighborhood clean-up, recycling, fundraising and working for social change are also eligible for the time bank exchange.
Mid Maine TimeBank has 12 members in Lincoln County. Some are part of households where more than one person participates in the time bank. Members come from Round Pond, Jefferson, Boothbay, Newcastle and Damariscotta. Macomber lives in Bremen.
“We joined [Mid Maine TimeBank] in the spring,” Macomber said Dec. 21.
“Never in a million years would I believe I would be building a chicken fence,” she said. She said five time bank members worked together cutting saplings, hammering them into the ground, weaving chicken wire mesh through the uprights and making a barrier to keep small chicks within the enclosure.
She said it was hard work that would have been very difficult for one person, but the woman they were helping knew what needed to be done.
Macomber now has 66 credits accumulated and wants more members to join to increase the pool of skills and needs within the local community.
“Everybody would like yard work,” she said. “That’s the thing people want.”
The exchange of labor is not Macomber’s primary reason for being part of the time bank.
“It’s an incredible way to build community,” she said. “I’ve gotten to know people in other areas, but I think it would be nice here, too.” Macomber said more members are needed if the system is to work.
The Mid Maine TimeBank was initiated in 2008 by Stacey Jacobsohn of Augusta. Currently, Jacobsohn facilitates training, supervises committees, TimeBank Kitchen Cabinet meetings, performs administrative tasks, and is involved in community outreach for the Augusta group.
Members of the time bank sign an agreement stating that they understand the purpose and responsibilities of their membership. Responsibilities include honoring the work members do, the credits members give in exchange for time given, and respecting the dignity of the person receiving the service.
Members are required to post at least one offer and one request. They are asked to communicate clearly and honestly about their abilities and scheduling, and “treat other members with utmost respect at all times.”
“Members are encouraged to mingle, investigate, and get to know their neighbors,” the agreement states. “We are building social capital, a network of local, reliable support, so that what we give to others will be available to us when we need it, or our loved ones.
“We are aware of our differences and try not to engage in persuasive arguments of politics and religion with other TimeBank members,” it says.
Other categories include help with car care, construction and repairs, yard work, business services and financial and legal advice.
Macomber said there are many charitable organizations that do good work for people and the time bank can bring those from diverse groups together to find common ground and provide a way to request services for those who are not affiliated with a church or other charitable group.
“The time bank could act as a central clearing house for people in need and people who want to meet the needs of others,” she said. “It would open the lines of communication…One of the core values is that everybody has value. Everyone has something to contribute.”
She said people are more relaxed about the services they receive in a time exchange than they are when paying cash.
“It’s not that you’re going to do a bad job,” she said. “You’re going to do the best you can, but the person receiving it is not as hyper about the result.”
The time bank Hour Exchange Portland was featured in the recent PBS documentary “Fixing the Future.” The film explores local solutions to fixing the economy.
In July, Mid Maine TimeBank Coordinator Jacobsohn described the benefits of time banking, on blogtalkradio.com’s Envision This, a radio show dedicated to local sustainability and community-building innovations and ideas.
According to the website at besttimebank.org, the Internal Revenue Service has issued three local rulings stating that time bank credits are tax exempt. The reasons for these rulings are that an hour is always an hour, regardless of what is offered, time credits are backed only by a moral obligation and are not legally binding and their purpose is charitable.
The global Transition Town network includes 130 communities in more than 30 U.S. States. Communities centered in Brunswick, Belfast, Portland, Oxford Hills, Bangor, Hermon, Ellsworth and other Maine towns have become part of the international network that began in Great Britain in 2006.
Transition initiatives focus on sustainability practices such as permaculture, industrial ecology, biomimicry and natural capitalism, a business model that values natural resources for their role in sustaining life on earth.
In what is referred to as The Cheerful Disclaimer, advocates of transition towns make the following statement.
“If we wait for the governments, it’ll be too little, too late; If we act as individuals, it’ll be too little; but if we act as communities, it might just be enough, just in time.”
To learn more about the Mid Maine TimeBank, visit the website at midmetimebank.org. Information about the national time banking movement can be found at timebanks.org.
Lincoln County residents interested in learning more about the local time bank can do so by calling Isabel Macomber at 529-2952.
