Banking on a sharing of time

Crowder is one of a handful of people already committed to the New River Valley TimeBank, a community network that allows participants to exchange hours of their individual skills or services with one another set to launch later this month.

Crowder is aiming to trade his skills at hauling and landscaping for some other volunteer’s skills in the kitchen.

“I’m all about getting pie out of this time bank. Apple pie, meat pie, that’s where I’m at,” Crowder said.

TimeBank Coordinator Ellen Stewart said the program stemmed from the work of the New River Valley Livability Initiative’s Aging in Place Team and was originally conceived as a way to connect elderly residents with volunteers in hopes of prolonging the time they could live on their own.

Now under the oversight of New River Valley Home, a nonprofit that grew out of the New River Valley Home Consortium, the effort is still planned to focus on helping the elderly, but has evolved to include all ages, Stewart said.

Participants can list services needed and offered on the website, nrvtimebank.org, and then independently connect with one another as their needs and skills match. For each hour of service a participant performs, he or she earns an hour time credit that can be spent for another participant’s assistance.

“It’s a creative idea and I think society in general is open to a more sharing economy now,” Stewart said.

She said the aim is for the bank to be largely run by those involved.

“We’re hoping TimeBank members will be earning TimeBank credits by helping to administer the programs,” Stewart said.

That could include participants serving as helpers for a members that don’t have access to the website, she said.

The group has a launch ceremony planned at Market Square Park in Blacksburg on Sept. 22 at 11:30 a.m. and two orientation sessions, one at the Blacksburg Library on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. and the other at the Christiansburg Library on Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. The orientations are planned to include instructions on using the website and guidelines for screening each other, as the group will largely be self policing in nature.

Pete Macedo of Blacksburg Bagels said he and his partner Jessica Schultz were among those very excited to get started exchanging credits.

“We’ve been looking for ways where we can not just barter, but spend our time on what we do best and trade that with other people,” Macedo said. “We have a lot of yard work that’s gotten out of hand.”

Both Macedo and Crowder said they were also hopeful about the relationship building possibilities that could come from taking part in the TimeBank.

“You get to redefine how you think about people you already know in the community and you get to meet new people.” Crowder said.

Stewart said the group does hope to produce a sense of community among their members and is planning to host a variety of swap meets and group dinners.

The focus at the time of the launch will be people in the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, but Stewart said they hope to quickly expand.

“Our vision is to spread it out to all the communities throughout the New River Valley over the next three years,” she said.