Dirty Fingernails

I spent the morning at Healthy City Youth Farm washing pots, planting heirloom lettuce, transplanting thyme, savory, oregano and mint for their Community Supported Agriculture members, and generally loving the little farming community that exists right within the city limits. What a gift for urban life. Grow Team is trying to bring some of this nature loving joy to the Old North End. We are starting the Archibald Neighborhood Garden thanks to the generous support of the Visiting Nurses Association who is providing the space and the liability insurance. Healthy City will be providing some of the plants for us. Thank you! And I have secret ambitions to get their staff to join the Time Bank.

Hot Buttered Rum

Friday night I had a delightfully dorky Time Bank moment. I was at a Hot Buttered Rum concert at Higher Ground dancing like a fiend to some upbeat bluegrass music with VISTAs old and new. Before a set break, the guitarist announced that after the break they would have a community bulletin board. You could write an announcement and the band would read it to the audience. What an opportunity! I giddily wrote out the following:

Tired of having to pay for everything you want or need? Join Burlington Time Banks and swap skills and labor with your neighbors. Check out burlingtontimebanks.blogspot.com.

When they made the announcement all of my friends started screaming and cheering and I was grinning like a time bank loving fool. It's the little things.

Questions about Joining the Time Bank

Is there a membership fee?

There is no membership fee; however, we do encourage members to make a one-time donation of $25. Your donation helps to cover the cost of the time banking software, other modest overhead costs (such as printing), and staff such as an AmeriCorps*VISTA. If you cannot afford $25 at one time you can make multiple smaller donations.

There is also an annual membership fee of 4 Time Dollars. Every three months 1 Time Dollar is charged to your account. Why? Because it takes A LOT of Time Dollars to run the Time Bank. We have some amazing members who earn Time Dollars by providing services for the Time Bank (and you could be one of them!).

How do I use the site once I’ve signed up?

For some brief instructions click here. To view the 25 page User Manual click here. If you ever get stuck just send your coordinator a question at burlington.timebanks@gmail.com.

What if I (or someone I know) doesn’t normally have computer access?

The Fletcher Free Library has public computers available which people can use to search and utilize the Time Bank website. Also, collaborating organizations, such as Mercy Connections, have computer labs which are open to Time Bank Member use. For more information, email burlington.timebanks@gmail.com.

What if I (or someone I know) doesn’t even have access to public computer services? Can I still be part of the bank?

Yes, you can still be a part of the Time Bank! We have a buddy system set-up to give access to those members of the community who do not or cannot use the Internet. If you know someone in this situation who is interested in joining, please email burlington.timebanks@gmailcom to get a list of those who are willing to act as a liaison for them and Time Bank. These 'buddies' will search the site for you and help you make connections. If you are interested in being a buddy, let us know!

What if I don't live in the Old North End?
You can still join! We have members from Winooski, Williston, even Vergennes. Most of our members are from Burlington and many do live in the Old North End.

Burlington Time Banks has one pilot project - the Old North End Time Bank. This time bank is designed to bring together people who primarily live in the Old North End to take care of each other and make their own lives easier and more meaningful. We have dreams of South End and New North End Time Banks. Time Banks in Winooski, South Burlington, and Williston.

Once we have created a vibrant Time Bank in the Old North End we will create other neighborhood Time Banks in the Burlington Area.

Circles of Support

U2 sings love songs on my computer and the night finds me awake and working. I was filled with beauty and grace, overwhelmed by love and good will, when I walked home tonight. The sky was the perfect balance between night and day, a blue so deep and vibrant - alive.

The inspiration for such a mood?

This is the way I feel every time I give a presentation about Time Dollars. Renewed, inspired, in love. As if I were spreading warmth and hope. Igniting in the heartspace of others, it reflects back to me, many times magnified. Alone, on Elmwood Ave, I can look through the bare boughs of trees and see a perfect sky and know without hesitation or doubt that this is what I was meant to do. I am home.

How To Join the Time Bank

SIGNING UP:

1. Click the link at the top of the blog page.

2. Enter the required fields (name, email, password), read the Terms and Conditions, check "I Agree" (if you do) and click on "Join".

3. An email will be sent to you. When you open the email, click on the link. It will take you to a sign in page.

4. Sign in with your Full Email and Password.

5. This brings you to a profile page. Fill out your profile to the best of your ability (you can edit your profile at any time) and click "Confirm". Your membership has been sent to the coordinators and is awaiting activation.

6. A coordinator will send you an email to set up an initial meeting with a coordinator. This meeting is to help you understand time banking, our ONE time bank website as well as offers you an opportunity to ask any questions you may have. You may bring your one-time donation to this meeting if you would like.

If you have any difficulties signing up or using the website, feel free to email the Time Bank Team at burlington.timebanks@gmail.com with questions.

MAIL IN YOUR ONE-TIME DONATION:

While there is no annual membership fee, we encourage members to make a one-time $25 donation to the time bank. If you would like to mail a check please make it out to "Cash" and mail it to:

Melissa Stiebert
105 Elmwood Ave
Burlington VT 05401

Already a Member? How to Use the O.N.E. Time Bank Website

To sign-In:
1. Go to community.timebanks.org
2. Enter your full email address and Password
3. Click Sign In

Placing an offer or request:
1. Click the give and receive tab.
2. Click the category in which you would like to post an offer or request
3. Click the add request or add offer on the top right hand side of the window.

Locate an offer or request:
1. Click the Give and Receive tab
2. Click a specific category, or click view all requests or view all offers
3. When an ad interests you, click see more
4. To reply to a message, click reply now. You will be able to edit a message & send it.
5. Click preview message and check it over before sending

Set up an exchange:
1. When someone is sent a message in response to their service ad or request, they will get an email notification. In the email there will be a link to click on. Once you sign in to the timebanks site you will be brought directly to the message.
2. See if there is a certain date or time to make the exchange. And always feel comfortable asking to meet the person first, especially if they will be providing childcare or transportation. You have the right to exchange with whomever you feel comfortable with, so feel free to decline a request for service.

View member profiles
1. Click Community tab, then on Members
2. Click anywhere in a row to see a member’s profile

Look up community events:
1. Click community tab
2. Click the Events listed on the right to see a fuller description

Recording your hours:
1. Click the my account tab
2. If there has been a conversation going through the site around an exchange, click the record hours button on the right side of the conversation box.
3. If no messages were exchanged for a given service, go to my hours and add time, and enter the appropriate fields.
4. Once the exchange is submitted, the number of time dollars entered will be added to the person’s account that performed the service and deducted from the person’s account who received the service.

To edit or stop a request or offer:
1. Click the my account tab, then my services, then my offers or my requests
2. Find the ad you want to change, and then click edit or stop

View your account status:
1. Click my account tab, then my hours, then view activity
2. To change the date range, use the view transactions pull down menu, and click view

Strategic Plan

This is only about half done but I wanted to share it sooner rather than later. We welcome comments!

Burlington Time Banks’ Strategic Plan

Spring 2007

Mission

The mission of Burlington Time Banks is to use Time Dollars as a tool for creating vibrant, safe, inclusive neighborhoods; for empowering individuals; for increasing the quality of life for community members; and to facilitate the distribution of power, access and voice in our society.

We envision a sustainable society in which all community members are equally valued, have equal access to community participation, and equal access to fulfilling their potential.

Introduction

In the fall of 2005, Amy Kirschner, AmeriCorps*VISTA, Burlington Currency Project, and Ita Meno, Community Specialist, Center for Community and Neighborhoods, and Member of Board of Directors, Burlington Currency Project, began dialogue surrounding the creation of a Time Bank in the Old North End. The vision was to utilize a new complementary currency to truly have a positive impact on individuals living in poverty or below livable wages.

In the spring of 2006 the Burlington Currency Project was granted another AmeriCorps*VISTA placement. The primary responsibility of this position was to facilitate the creation of a Time Bank in the Old North End. On July 24^th, 2006 Melissa Stiebert began her one year placement.

In October 2006 a team of four volunteers – Beth O’Malley, Ita Meno, Emily Gowen, Karolyn Realms – and Melissa began meeting biweekly to develop the Old North End Time Bank.

On November 30^th, 2006 the Old North End Time Bank launched with an introductory potluck at Jen Lazar’s and Daniel Shearer’s home on Crombie St. Approximately thirty community members were present and almost two thirds of them immediately signed up to join.

Dani Fuoco and Ashley Orenberg joined the core volunteer team, which began meeting weekly to move the Time Bank forward. Beth O’Malley returned to Portland, Maine and the Portland Time Bank.

This Strategic Plan is an outgrowth of our weekly volunteer meetings. In particular, our March Meetings were dedicated to this process, and we welcomed Lindsay Donellon and Laura Goldblatt to the visioning process. Stephanie Clark and Chong Kim were invaluable facilitators.

Sustainability

We believe that Time Banking has the power to transform the lives of individuals and whole communities. As Time Bank Member, Pam Greene has said, Time Banking is radical but non-threatening.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the project two items must be present:

• The creation of a 501c3 nonprofit, Burlington Time Banks, to facilitate the creation of and to support Time Banks in the Chittenden County Area. One aspect of sustainability is the ability to successfully fundraise and staff the project. There must be consistent, dedicated energy to the project in order to inspire community members and ensure the next item.
• Community support and ownership. The role of the staff is to inspire and empower community members – particularly those who have been traditionally disenfranchised – to take a stake in the Time Bank and their neighborhood. Community ownership of the project will ensure its success into the future.

Success

What does success look like?

Below are three benchmarks against which we can view success. The Measurable Outcomes are projected for November 30^th 2007 – the one year anniversary of the project.

1) Our first project, the Old North End Time Bank, is an active exchange community where people are able to meet tangible and intangible needs.

Measurable Outcomes:

• It has a minimum of one hundred members
• Monthly Activity: a minimum of 100 Hours exchanged or at least 50% of members exchanging on a monthly basis
• A vibrant Give and Receive area. A wide range of requests and offers. 60% to 90% of Members post both requests and offers.

2) Time Banking is being used to address specific community needs.

Measurable Outcomes:

• The Time Bank is being utilized to organize community members around at least two community needs. Ex. Grow Team organizing around issues of food security and gardening in the Old North End.
• Ten to twenty Time Bank Members involved in Time Bank organized community projects.

3) Time Banking is serving the needs of low income individuals.

Measurable Outcomes:

• At least 40% of Time Bank Members are low income.
• Active collaborations with at least three organizations serving low income and marginalized individuals.
• The Creation of Skill Development Opportunities for low income individuals.
• At least 40% of Members of the Board of Directors are low income.

How do we ensure success?

The biggest barriers to success are, ironically, time and money. This is true of many initiatives in life, hence the creation of a Time Bank.

Time

It takes time to run the Time Bank, but, more importantly, it takes time to participate in the Time Bank. Why would individuals invest their finite hours in Time Banking?

1) They have a surplus of time and are eager to find meaningful ways to use it. This is true of individuals who are retired or are on SSI Disability.

2) They have a deficit of time, but the Time Bank meets they’re needs so they are willing to make Time Banking, like earning money, one of the priorities in their life. As they utilize the Time Bank more and more it frees some time in their lives for things they want to be doing rather than things they need to be doing. (because someone else is green housecleaning, cooking dinner once a week, watching the kids, driving you to the store so you don’t have to spend half the day on the bus and in exchange you’re gardening, offering poetry workshops, and bringing your elderly neighbor dinner once a week).

Money

Actually, money is also about time. Fortunately, because the project is a grassroots endeavor that is supported by community members and partners it takes very little money in the way of overhead and administrative costs. However, we do need money to buy people’s time. We need individuals who are able to prioritize a certain amount of their time to the Time Bank each week, i.e. staff.

The Key to Success

Grow Team - Why We Do What We Do

We are trying to start a neighborhood garden on a lot on Archibald Ave. and Walnut St., right by H.O.Wheeler. Chris and I wrote a grant application to fund purchasing compost and timber for raised beds. Below is an excerpt from that letter. I think it starts to paint a picture of who are and what gets us all riled up.

"Grow Team ONE is a group of community minded gardeners who have come together to share skills and resources with their neighbors and to foster and inspire a culture of gardening in the Old North End. Our goals are: 1) to work with community partners to start neighborhood gardens in the Old North End; 2) to support and encourage neighbors to transform their lawns into gardens; and 3) to connect neighbors who want to garden and don't have the space to neighbors who have the space and want to share.

"Grow Team ONE is organized through the Old North End Time Bank, a local network that brings neighbors together to identify community needs and resources and promote the exchange of labor and knowledge.

"...We are passionate about starting this garden because many people in the Old North End do not have access to gardening or community gardening. We rent apartments with limited to no green space, have limited incomes, and limited transportation. With no permanent community gardens and few neighborhood gardens in the Old North End, our ability to enjoy this invaluable resource is hampered. The many benefits of gardening – fresh and nutritious vegetables, exercise, fresh air, connection to nature and place – can increase the quality of individual and community life in the Old North End. A neighborhood garden can begin to heal the division between neighbors, between people and the land, and between refugees and U.S. citizens. It can rebuke the image that our neighborhood is less valuable or worthy of paying attention to and caring for. People and place are interconnected. Low income and marginalized individuals are consistently told that they are less valuable, less worthy of attention or care, less able to be active and essential components of our community. Our neighborhoods reflect this sense of inner neglect. By taking ownership of our space and working together to create something beautiful and nourishing we prove to ourselves and all who walk past it that we have the power to change our community and improve our lives."

"How much time does a garden take?"

"There is probably no sure way to tell. There are too many variables... If you want your garden to look picture perfect you will have to spend more time at work than someone who doesn't mind a few weeds. If you think of gardening as a kind of agony, then perhaps the investment in work may be too great... If you think of gardening as a pleasure, then you may not think of your work as an "investment" at all; the whole enterprise (less seed) will be profit. Or you may think of a garden as an economic necessity, which well repays the time invested in it. But that raises another question.

What is your time worth? Though it is often asked, I do not think this question is answerable. It is the same as asking what your life is worth. And I can give it only the same non-answer: it is worth whatever it means. The idea that you cannot afford to raise a garden is based on the assumption that it means money, that if you are not receiving the top dollar for every minute of your life, you are suffering a "loss" - a doctrine that would not only put an end to gardens, but soon drive us all to theft or suicide.

A better question is this: What would you - and your children - be doing with the time "saved" by not producing your subsistence? Different families will answer that question in different ways. But if the answer is that you would be doing something expensive away from home... or taking an outside job to buy food, or if you don't know what you would do with the time, then it seems to me that you would do well to look carefully into the economics of subsistence. "

From Wendell Barry; The Economics of Subsistence, in A Gift of Good Land. 1981, North Point Press.

Grants, Violins, and Snow

At 6pm weak sunlight grew and warmed behind a layer of clouds. the air became wetter, softer, warmer. And for a moment it felt like spring. Chris Howell and I met at an empty lot on Archibald Ave and Walnut St - right by H.O. Wheeler and Dot's Market. We pulled out a small tape measure and a pencil and proceeded to measure out the dimensions of our canvas - an empty lot ripe for community gardening, maybe a mural, some community events and live music, a block party, vegetables, neighbors... ooh. It was sandy, nutrient poor, and might be contaminated, but it was a beautiful site. Right in the heart of the Old North End. Owned by the Visiting Nurses Association. And hopefully, we were going to be able to start a neighborhood garden on it.

As we walked back to my apartment snow tumbled down all around us in thick flurries. From the warmth of my coral living room Chris typed away at a grant application for the garden while I contemplated my navel in the faith that a passionate grant cover letter was stirring in the deeper recesses of my being. Meg arrived and Chris finished the grant to a fury of fiddle tuning. Soon Jen, Meg, and myself were gathered on the sofa with our fiddles. Scottie had his guitar. And a raucous and heartfelt sing along ensued.

Grow Team Working Manifesto

“Grow Team ONE” will help residents test their soil, turn lawns to gardens or put in raised beds/containers, and create a culture of gardening in the Old North End. The project will grow out of the Old North End Timebank, allowing residents to trade time and skills/knowledge for gardening help.

Grow Team One will consist of 5-10 ONE community members who agree to spend 3-10 hours a week working with residents to start gardens and facilitate the process of beginning a neighborhood garden.

Grow Team One Goals:

• Connect ONE residents to gardening resources
• Soil testing
• Gardening knowledge
• Seeds, soil, and construction materials
• Promote personal and community gardens in the ONE
• Act as a resource to residents who express the desire to start a garden
• Facilitate the creation of sustainable home and community gardens
• Improve access to fresh vegetables among residents in the ONE
• Connect residents looking for garden space

Grow Team ONE will not provide funding or receive U.S. monetary compensation for their work. However, members may receive Time Dollars.

This summer, we hope to:

· Enable 5 residents to begin a home vegetable garden

· Locate a possible ONE neighborhood garden site

· Engage 15 community members in home and neighborhood gardens

· Have a ridiculous amount of fun digging, planting, growing, learning and eating beautiful fresh vegetables!

Grow Team O.N.E.

In an effort to spread the word and the garden fever, here's our first Grow Team Email. Interested in getting involved? Want to learn more? Email: growteam@yahoo.com

Hello Dear Ones,

Grow Team has been up and running for three business days and already a team of excited bicyclists have hit the streets and Chris Howell has gotten the ball rolling on a likely community garden space.

For those of you new to the list, Grow Team ONE is a group of community minded gardeners who are excited about increasing food security in the ONE, spreading the fresh veggie/garden joy, and fostering urban permaculture. We are organized through the Old North End Time Bank. Questions? Hunt me down.

In this email you will find: Next Meeting - When, Where; ONE Neighborhood Garden Update and Next Steps; and Minutes from Friday's Meeting and Next Steps.

Next Meeting:
5pm Friday, April 6 at Chris Howell's house
185 N. Winooski Ave, 2 houses south of Viva Espresso.

ONE Neighborhood Garden Update:
It looks like the Family room may be able to partner with Grow Team to create a community garden on the VNA lot (next to Dot's Market). (The Family Room is a VNA program).

VNA lot: partnership of Family Room and Grow Team

Sara Sinnott, Family Room Garden Program coord.

Susan Landsman, supervisor

Family Room provides:

Brush hogging

Use of site

Liability insurance

Family Room is:

Program of VNA, educational programs for people in poverty, recent immigrants, operates family room garden at Ethan Allen Homestead

There’s something big growing in the Old North End…
- Chris Howell

Neighborhood Garden NEXT STEPS
In anticipation of the project going through this season, we are applying for a VCGN grant.

Postmark deadline is Friday April 6th.

We need to go to the VNA lot and take measurements and see what it needs.
We'll be doing this 6pm Wednesday April 4th. All interested parties come to Dot's Market (on Archibald, next to H.O. Wheeler).

Minutes from Grow Team Meeting 3/31/07
Since this was our first meeting we wanted to get a sense of who we were and why were involved with the project.

Personal goals:

ß Experience
ß Learning
ß Greater connection to food
ß Apply experience
ß Apply personal passion
ß Implement permaculture design principals in the ONE
ß A garden no more than three blocks from every Burlington resident
ß Ownership/stewardship of space, as resident & tenant
ß Link interests – design, gardening, permaculture
ß Get residents out in Burlington's green spaces
ß Evoke the creative potential of the community

A Note on Focus and Organizational Structure:

Grow Team has three main focuses:

To work with like minded community partners to start accessible neighborhood gardens in the Old North End. Neighborhood gardens are categorized as small community garden projects that are coordinated by a housing project or neighborhood group. Friends of Burlington Gardens offers technical assistance to groups or organizations interested in starting and sustaining community-based garden projects that serve multiple people.

To support and encourage neighbors to transform their lawns into gardens or put in raised beds/containers.

To connect neighbors who want to garden and don't have the space to neighbors who have the space and want to share.

These projects will help to create a culture of gardening in the Old North End, which, as Chris Howell so eloquently stated, changes the fabric of community.

Organizational Structure:
Julie Epstein is Grow Team ONE's primary coordinator with Melissa Stiebert acting as assistant coordinator.

Grow Team ONE is organized through the Old North End Time Bank (burlingtontimebanks.blogspot.com). The time bank has 78 members who agree to spend and earn Time Dollars. A Time Dollar is something you earn when you help a neighbor or area non-profit for one hour. You can spend that Time Dollar with neighbors to get your needs met.

Everyone in Grow Team can earn Time Dollars for all the sweat, tears and glory they put into beautifying this sweet Old North End.

NEXT STEPS:
ß Bike around the ONE to investigate possible community garden locations—done! (I'll bring photos to the meeeting).
ß Firm up our network and organizational structure
ß Group brainstorm to hear everyone's ideas
ß Solidify the Grow Team ONE model—how we approach and work with the community
ß Map resources through a questionaire: people, materials, skills, connections
ß Spread the word about Grow Team One: Neighborhood Planning Assemblies, Meetup, Front Porch Forum, Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, Sustainable Living Netowrk, door-to-door
ß Create an resource kit/flyer to pass out
ß Assemble resources
ß Mark - can you email everyone the Sustainable Living Flyer?
ß Determine Grow Team ONE costumery (overalls, t-shirts, tanks, etc.)


Yeehaw!
Melissa and Chris

It has been too long since my last post

There are just too many exciting things happening around the timebank. I love to write long eloquent passages detailing the secret joy, exhiliration, and fear that surrounds such an incredible project. But as a semi-delirious (once again excessive chocolate consumption has me working at my prime time - the wee hours of the night) one woman show, I am hard pressed for time. Ooh if only I could hire someone to write blog posts for me.

To be honest, the absolute thrill of this project is the community of warm effusive beings who volunteer their time, energy, and funds to make this happen. Hopefully one day soon they will announce themselves on the blog. wink wink I may be a one staff show, but I am well supported, loved, and cared for by the Time Bank members and volunteers.