Transition Town Media & Timebank Media are  having a screening of the wonderful film Occupy Love.  Filmed all over the world, from Egypt to the Occupy encampments in NYC to the Albertan Tar Sands, the film holds in one container both the despair that we collectively feel about the destruction of our planet as well as the longing and great promise we feel to contribute to a better future, one that holds the respect for our planet and each other as self-evident and primary.

Transition Town Media and Timebank Media presents Occupy Love, April 30th, at the Media Community Center, 4th and Jackson Streets, Media. 7 – 9 pm. $10.00 suggested donation at the door. All proceeds are being used as a fund-raiser for both TTM/TBM and the film’s creators in order to allow them to release the film more broadly.

Mark your calendars! We are gathering the tribe in March…the timebank tribe. On March 26th, from 6 – 9 pm, we will eat a pot-luck together and then some people, completely voluntary (!), will share stories about timebanking in our community. How has it helped them? How have they gotten their needs met? How have they discovered latent gifts and talents? If you have a story to share, please bring it and encourage others to join in on the fun. Coordinators will be on hand to answer questions, help you log-in to your account if you are new, help you find some offers to post and some requests to post. We all have unmet needs, but sometimes it takes just a little bit of discussion to tease it to the surface. So, if you are one of those people who says, “Well, I have things to offer, but I don’t really need anything,” we’ll help you find some creative ways to participate.

Please consider joining us. And bring a friend. There is always space for more!

We get asked one question, over and over again. “Do you have to live in Media?”  “But I don’t live in Media, can I join?”  From the beginning, the timebank volunteers decided that we would let people decide, no matter where they lived, if they would derive benefit from being a member. We do this instead of deciding an arbitrary boundary. Indeed, how would YOU define “Media”?  Is it just the Borough? Certainly not… Well, a 5 mile radius? A 10 mile radius?  All of the boundaries we established seemed so cumbersome and added an unnecessary burden on the administration of the timebank. Why not just let anyone join who cares to.  This has given us a rather wide “range” of members, some as far away as Kennett Square and West Philadelphia. We even have members in Boston and Milwaukee who work remotely for timedollars, and are sometimes in Media to redeem them. Some people just want to support us, and joining is one way to do that.

Wherever people live, our timebank is helping people connect with one another through meaningful work in their community, and this can be nothing but a benefit to everyone involved.

The Timebank Media volunteers have been meeting for a month now. We want to approach the growth and vitality of the timebank in two ways:  supporting our current membership in better than we have been, and starting new initiatives that will strengthen our community and help others find timebanking along the way.

Supporting our membership means that our members need to be heard, so we created a survey to ask some questions about your experience, expectations, and wishes. We hope you will take the time to answers these questions. It helps us help you. Also, of course, you get a timedollar for your effort.

Look for new social opportunities in the new year, as well as more interesting ways to earn and spend timedollars. We are an all-volunteer organization, and if you feel that you would like to commit some time to our organization, every voice is valued, and every hand is needed.

Greetings Timebankers!

I have a few annoucements to make about meetings and planned community events.

Annoucement 1:  First of all there is a Timebank Volunteer meeting this upcoming Sunday, November 11th from 4 – 5:30 pm at my house, 360 Kirk Lane, Media PA.  We want to welcome anyone who has ideas, gifts, and some time to offer to the timebank and of course meeting participation is just one way to earn some timedollars.

Announcement 2: I will be moving through our timebank membership list over the next week and showing our appreciation for your membership by giving every person a free timedollar. Included in that free timedollar offer is the further offer that you will receive another timedollar for every offer and request you put into the system within the 48 hours after you receive your timedollar gift!  What a deal! We decided in our last Timebank Volunteer meeting that we wanted to find new ways to encourage people to make offers and requests — a full half of our members have not done so yet. While we appreciate the moral support of those who have paid their membership fees but aren’t using the system, the system works much better when there is a plethora of offerings to choose from, and when we can see everyone’s needs fully expressed in the timebanking community. No one can help you if they don’t know you need help.

Annoucement 3:  Speaking of people needing help: The Media Business Authority has needs of volunteers on a fairly regularly basis and would love timebankers’ help. This is a great way to help your community in a myriad of ways.  We would like to start a monthly community-wide cleanup of State Street. Here are a couple that were recently posted:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/444116312300895/

also

Kathy Lundgren would like to schedule a life-mob in December and is offering timedollars for anyone willing to come and help her out for a few hours. She would like to schedule it for Friday morning December 7 from 9-12 am and needs help with these projects:

• moving scrap wood from a workshop to our driveway;
• cutting down weed trees;
• dismantling a brushpile;
• shredder chipping branches with a commercial grade chipper;
• dismantling a large compost pile;
• moving the compost up to the vegetable garden