By Ward Peck

Editor

    The Greater Portland Time Bank is seeking to expand
its membership by creating extension offices in Portland’s outlying
suburbs. Heading the effort in South Portland and Cape Elizabeth is
MeShell Jonka, a South Portland activist and Southern Maine Community
College student.

    “There are several artificial boundaries in our
service area,” said Portland Time Bank Executive Director Stuart Ray.
“The [Fore] River is one of them.”

    Jonka and other members of the Time Bank are
currently in the midst of an outreach program, holding several open
houses at the SMCC campus and the South Portland Community Center. The
next one will be held at the Main Branch of the South Portland Public
Library. Jonka said there will be events all day, including music and a
presentation by the Library’s director, Marian Peterson, who said she
will talk about the concept of community as it relates to the programs
and services provided by the library.

    Jonka has begun referring to the South Portland Time
Bank extension as the “South Portland Time Capsule.” He envisions the
extension will have its own administration and public use space
somewhere in South Portland, possibly on Cottage Road. Ray said the
exact details of how the extensions will work have not been ironed out,
but before it can move forward, more people from the area will need to
become members.

    In the 2000 film, “Pay It Forward,” a young boy
attempts to change the world by doing good deeds then asking the
beneficiaries of those deeds to do their own. As the title describes,
the deeds are not paid back, but paid forward. If you understand the
movie’s premise, you’re on your way to understanding how the Portland
Time Bank works.

    The Portland Time Bank has been in existence in some
form for the past 10 years and is based upon the concept of “Time
Dollars,” created by Edgar Cahn in 1980. Time Dollars can be seen as a
way to commoditize good deeds and favors. For instance, a person runs
an errand or provides some other service for a member of the Time Bank
community. For every hour that person spends performing that service,
they earn a “Time Dollar.” That person then is able to use the Time
Dollars they earn to purchase a service from another member of the Time
Bank community. The balances of individuals’ Time Dollars are centrally
managed using computer software developed by Cahn and maintained by a
small staff. The central office performs other tasks such as compiling
a directory of services members are willing to provide and assisting
members in connecting with other members. Looked at as a market system,
the market is the needs within a community, the currency is time and
medium of exchange is Time Dollars. This market rests on two central
tenets: Every member of the community has a skill or ability that is
valuable to the large community and everyone’s time is equally
valuable. An hour spent baby-sitting is just as valuable as an hour
spent drawing up an estate plan.

    Time Banks work by synchronizing two often-competing
interests: community service and self-interest. People wary of doing
something for nothing can take comfort that their work will be
rewarded. Those wary of taking charity can take comfort that the person
helping them will be compensated. At the same time, neighbors are
connecting to neighbors and community ties are strengthened.

    Majorie Stone a Time Bank member from Yarmouth at
the Community Center open house said she has used the Time Bank in ways
she never expected when she joined.

    “Initially I offered organic vegetables, soups and
gardening assistance,” Stone said. “I haven’t done those things at all.”

    Instead, Stone said, she has provided babysitting service and helped get a schooner ready for launch.

Stone said she is surprised that the greatest benefit she has received are the personal connections she has made.

    “I took someone from Freeport that broke her leg to
the doctor; she cooked a meal for us,” Stone said. “The exchanges are
by no means reciprocal but you find that by doing an exchange you
develop relationships. It draws people who like simplicity and the idea
of building community. You make these connections and a small community
is established.”

    Stone said that many non-profit organizations are also members.

    “My husband volunteers at Portland West,” she said. “All the hours he volunteers, he earns as Time Dollars.”

    Photographer Yvette Nadeau, a member from Portland,
has done photography work for Portland Adult Education in exchange for
Time Dollars. The organization also offers classes in exchange for Time
Dollars. Cultural organizations offer tickets and even some businesses
will accept Time Dollars.

    “My preferred use for Time Dollars is massages,”
Nadeau said. “Recently I used them for a handyman who helped me install
lights in my kitchen and replaced a light in my dining room.”

    And those dollars add up. Stone and her husband have
been able to use Time Dollars for house sitters and excursions. Other
services she has used include sewing and alterations and having an
energy audit performed on her home.

    According to Ray, the ideal size of a Time Bank is
150 to 200 members. Ray said a community significantly smaller than
that limits the variety of services and opportunities available. Time
Bank communities significantly larger than 150 to 200 members are more
difficult to effectively and efficiently administrate.

    Currently, the Portland Time Bank has roughly 800
members representing a relatively large geographic area, including
roughly 40 members from South Portland and Cape Elizabeth. It also has
members from Yarmouth, Westbrook and other outlying suburbs.

    Ray said the Time Bank is able to manage with the
help of four coordinators, who allow the Time Bank to maintain the
ideal ratio of members to administrators. But the geographic size of
the Time Bank can be a limiting factor. People may be hesitant to drive
from Cape Elizabeth to Yarmouth to rake leaves, or help someone with an
illness run errands. Ray said the Time Bank has identified several
“artificial boundaries,” people use to identify how far is too far. In
addition to the Fore River, I-295 is considered another boundary. By
decentralizing some of the administrative services within these
artificial boundaries, the Portland Time Bank hopes to create more
focused communities, while still providing access to the larger
universe of services available throughout the Greater Portland area.