Time Banking in Lyttelton

A preamble is required to explain how Time Banking became a Project Port Lyttelton (PPL) activity and the best person to explain this is Margaret Jefferies.

My first engagement with PPL was because my daughter was creating a garden with youth in Lyttelton and I began to show an interest in the community project, this evolved during 2006 to a place where I am pleased to call myself part of the PPL team. I found No More Throw-Away People by Edgar Cahn in the Lyttelton Library while thinking about an unrelated volunteer project, Margaret then told me she put it there!

From June of 2006 I have been reading, researching and talking to people in order to deepen my understanding of “communities working together” so as to more explicitly know the many ways interconnections and interrelations play a huge role in community wellbeing. Without going off into a meandering tangent I think it is fair to describe post industrial communities as having a strong technocratic fabric, (rates, roads and rubbish collection) but we often a weaken the social fabric (by spending too much energy driving all over the place to get what we want). I think Time Banking might help us to find what we need from our neighbours and so build stronger community relationships!

What is Time Banking?

• The first premise is that Time Bank is a system by which neighbours in a community can post and respond to requests for assistance.
• The second is that by using the Time banking system the activity of giving and receiving in a community will increase.
• The third premise is that Time Banking will improve the social fabric of a community.

Our First Steps

In October 2006 PPL offered me the opportunity to be the Time Broker for Time Banking Lyttelton and I will be paid up to 10 hours a week. In December PPL secured funding from a Foundation to subsidize the role of Time Broker for a period of three years.

We began with a brain storm to identify where Time Bank Lyttelton is at and how we will get it moving! Then we established a steering group to assist the broker. I received the membership list and was shown the computer with the Time Banking software...Immediately I felt the current software would eventually place a huge administrative burden on any Time Broker. Thankfully there is newer software which allows members to make exchanges without the Broker having to be involved in every transaction.

I would like to spend as much time as possible discovering what people would like help with, who in the community has the time and skills to give, and be avaliable to facilitate exchanges. To Join people and groups, to promote the time bank and to record how we began our Time Bank and how it becomes part of our community is equally important to administering the system.

At years end the appropriate software is still to be decided but a very interesting discussion is emerging and there is optimism that from a variety of options we will be able to make an informed choice.

In a couple of weeks we need be ready to begin trading for 2007 and there is still plenty to do!