where the currency is time and everyone's time is equal
Alexis Contreras is the first recipient of the Edgar Cahn Memorial Internship. Alexis is assisting the Timebank in doing outreach primarily to organizations in the North Bay. Alexis is busy developing webinars for BACE and meeting timebank coordinators in the North Bay and around the country. Please welcome her!
At a time when many people are expressing lack–lack of work, sundries, hand sanitizer, or a good haircut–I’m surprised to hear people say “….timebanking is a nice idea, but that’s not how the real world works.” Why not? Maybe social distancing rules prevent you from your job at a salon, but you can build your clientele by offering pointers on how to trim those mops in exchange for hours of credit. When you go back to work who will they come to for a proper cut? Earn hours: Do you know of someone offering free resources in the Bay Area? Email us the contact information so we can list it on our Resources page, and you’ll receive 0.5 hour time credit for each resource you identify.
How can you timebank while sheltering-in-place? Think “servicesâ€. Earn/spend hours engaging in education: teach/learn to interpret art from a diversity of communities, to read music, to speak Spanish, to communicate with American Sign Language, or to sharpen your cooking skills. On the home front, give/receive support with grocery runs, Internet searches (for scholarships, an apartment, etc.), or home, bike & car repair. On the job front, give/receive support on developing a LinkedIn profile, creating a website to launch a member’s products, or hunting for jobs. You can even earn hours promoting the Timebank this summer.
