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In three years we’re now at over 450 members in Long Beach.
My name is Christine Petit, I’m a co-founder of the Long Beach Time Exchange. We started
the Long Beach Time Exchange because we’d heard about time banking in a number of cities
and states around the U.S. as well as internationally. We knew that Long Beach would be a perfect
place to have a time exchange because it’s such a diverse community. We know that when
you have people who have a lot of different backgrounds, experiences and skills it’ll
make for a very rich time exchange and that’s what we’ve found in the last three years
in Long Beach. The Long Beach Time Exchange is a community
time bank for people to exchange services and skills for time instead of money.
The way it works is simple. Each hour of service is worth one time credit. For example, Maria
offers a cooking lesson to Josh for two hours. Josh gives Maria two time credits from his
account by logging the exchange online, or by calling a time bank coordinator. Then,
Maria spends her two time credits with two different people. She spends one hour getting
Raffa to fix her bike. And spends the other hour having Nancy edit her resume. Now, Raffa
and Nancy both have one time credit each, that they can spend with anyone they like.
They can find their next match by browsing online, calling a coordinator, or coming to
the next monthly potluck. In this way, time banking creates circles of giving, because
Josh wanted to take a cooking lesson, several new relationships were created.
Time exchange actually can involve different groups of people and different kinds of activities.
The exchange is phenomenal, you just don’t think money, I like that very much because
money is not everything. It’s almost a career; it’s like a resume
building experience. You’re like, who am I? What can I offer anyone and everyone out
there? So, I also even joined the time exchange as a form as soul searching. I think it’s
a chance to take an inventory of your own skills, to say, okay what skills do I have?
One of the reasons that time banking is such an international movement is due to the fact
that there are some core values that all time banks share.
The first core value is assets and the idea behind this is that everybody in the community
has value and has something to contribute to the community.
The second core value of time banking is redefining work. We recognize that a lot of work goes
under-valued or even unpaid in the market economy. What time banking does is it gives
equal value to all work and it recognizes there are a lot of important things that people
do to contribute to the community. The third core value of time banking is reciprocity.
We believe that helping works better as a two way street, a one way flow of resources
is often not sustainable. The Long Beach time exchange is for the community
in general because what we’re trying to accomplish is just to get people to get out
there and to learn what’s out there as far as resources and be interconnected with each
other as opposed to just being without services because of financial reasons.
The fourth core value is social networks. We believe that people are stronger when we’re
connected to a network. I’ve made so many connections, so many friends,
you walk into an event like this and literally is like old home week, you’re greeting people
that you’ve know for just a few years, but you’ve done something of service for them
or they’ve done something of service for you. And it bonds you to people.
The fifth core value is respect. Time banking values diverse perspectives, backgrounds,
and experiences and seeks to honor where people are at.
It kind of cross references different communities that might not otherwise have access to each
other. And, by doing that it blurs the lines of what one might see separates one demographic
from another demographic. It’s letting people get to know their neighbors,
which is something that we’ve lost touch with at least in the last 50 years. And that’s
vital. It’s very important to know the people around you.
We envision a city where resident’s assets including their diverse backgrounds and experiences
are recognized, valued and nurtured. I think the time exchange would play a vital
role in shaping the Long Beach economy because when a lot of people now are unemployed, if
they stay home they feel sometimes depressed, frustrated and unproductive. So the time exchange
actually invigorates people in the community to do more for each other and that alone can
help an economy at this time. I think just the idea of people thinking that
they have to do things with money alone, can hinder people from doing things that they
want to do in their life. I think, emotionally, I am happy to be in
a situation where I can use my skills and get to meet new people and have new experiences.
Some of the things I’ve given, I do a lot of community gardening, helping out people
with their community garden, I love doing that, it brings us all together because we’re
all digging in the dirt together, seeing the product that we’re growing.
I opened up a wellness center in Long Beach, a lot of things that we did to make the space
what it is, we did many many trades, and some of the trades that I did was with Time Exchange.
So, one of the things was creating brochures for a space, one of the things was to get
curtains made for a space. We envision a city where it is easy for residents
to connect to each other through networks that are rooted in respect and trust.
I always loved singing. I would sing in church mostly but never really joined a choir as
an adult and so, meeting you, a few weeks ago, at the last potluck was so awesome to
hear that you’re offering singing lessons. I get a lot out of it myself, and this is
how I make my time exchange money. We envision a city where residents share resources
that both allow them to meet basic needs and to access their highest potential.
So to learn more about what people have to offer just by being who they are. We have
a lot of hidden talents and skills that sometimes we ourselves don’t recognize within ourselves
and in each other. If you’re new to the time exchange, I would
say to offer a service that you love or to try out something that you’re thinking of
cultivating within yourself. We envision a city where residents are empowered
to effect and create structures and processes that encourage the growth and well being of
themselves and Long Beach as a whole. I guess besides making the exchanges it’s
been amazing because I’ve gotten to know a lot of people and I’ve kind of tapped
into a new community in Long Beach of people that are into sharing and giving and it’s
so beautiful because you do an exchange with someone but it’s not like you go home and
it’s done, you create a relationship with that person and it’s like having an extended
family in Long Beach. One of the emotional values that I get is
that when you do something for someone else, you feel great, you feel fantastic, it’s
like wow your mission is accomplished. I find that people are out of touch in our
society and getting in communication or in touch with people is always a good thing and
there needs to be more of it and I’m all for that.
You can’t imagine how you’ll use it until you actually get involved.