Timebanking for a resilient community

If asked, "What is timebanking?" most timebank members would talk about the service exchanges and mention, for example, the groceries you picked up for a member, the lamp you fixed, or having a member cut your hair or give you a ride to the airport. Of course that is what timebanking is. And it's also so much more.

In the course of doing service exchanges, you meet your neighbors, learn who has what skills or what needs, and even sometimes become friends. But even if you don't develop those deeper relationships, you become more familiar with one another and more accustomed to offering or asking for help. Consider how important that could be in a community crisis situation.

So go ahead and request that veggie casserole even if you don't need it. It serves a larger purpose. Each exchange, no matter what it is -- has a part in strengthening the fabric of our community, making it -- and all of us -- more resilient.