Last night I attended my first West Seattle Time Bank (westseattletimebank.com soon to become .org) at the recomendation of a new friend that belongs to same.

Time banks (google it) are places where folks in a community volunteer hours at their convenience, doing what they like, to help others in their community. No money is involved to join. The old saying time is money is absolutely the case with this organization.

Time banks have been around for years and are all over the country.

For each hour of time you give doing the things for which you excel, you bank an hour of service from other time bank members for what you need.

Last night, I earned 4 hours! I earned an hour for attending the orientation, and hour for attending the meeting, an hour in advance for signing up to help with Festivas for the Sustainable West Seattle organization in December, and an hour for washing the dishes after the meeting.

How often can you say that you really got something for nothing?

Well I did last night. Of course it’s not “nothing” to the recipients. It seemed like nothing to me but it was TIME and this is a highly valued commodity. Now I can request services like massage, ride to the airport, language lesson, yoga, and personal physical training, dog sitting or my favorite suggested donation on the list, chicken sitting. Now that is not your regular pet sitting is it?

It is a remarkable way to meet great neighbors and make new friends and contribute value to your neighbors and community. It’s the first thing I have been really excited about in years since my immediate family departed a few years ago. I am re-animated by the possibilities of my skills being utilized and rewarded. It was a positive experience and a nice potluck too. In a time when the economy is so hard on the average person, here is a place where I won the jackpot just for showing up. Check it out.

Kristen Beasley
West Seattle