Time-dollar exchange lets participants give an hour, get an hour
By Kathryn Skelton
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Bonnie Shulman would like to brush up on her French, so she’s offered to tutor math. She also likes getting massages.

So she’s teaching tai chi.

One hour of class earns one hour of massage, a trade of what she wants for what she has to offer.

The Lewiston Area Time Dollar Exchange, tied to an international movement that promotes alternative currency and helping your neighbor, serves as local matchmaker.

It’s been around for a year, but more visible downtown digs could boost participation.

The exchange moved into 2 Howe St., a former funeral home, in mid-August. A local carpenter is helping renovate the space, paid in Time Dollars. Next month, others will be able to earn dollars staffing a simple coffee and tea space.

Project coordinator Kristine Kimball said she hopes the Exchange Cafe becomes a networking arena. She’ll fill bulletin boards with people looking for services and services offered.

Her goal at the end of the program’s second year: 200 or so members exchanging 10,000 to 15,000 hours.

So far, the exchange has 25 members. Fifty hours were traded last month.

The biggest requests so far have been for health care services – namely massage – and home repair. Others have been for washing windows, watching children and tutoring.

Time Dollars can be spent locally or around the state through similar exchanges in Rockland, Bar Harbor, Portland, Brunswick or Millinocket.

Portland’s exchange is the oldest in Maine, piloted in 1997. Last year, some 300 members traded 20,000 hours of service, Kimball said.

One Time Dollar is earned for one hour of service. Dollars are banked until members find something to spend them on.

Singing, CD burning, oil changes, vegetarian cooking, sewing, flute lessons and reading aloud to someone else are all ideas listed on the membership application to get people thinking about their talents.

Two Time Dollars are given to each new member to start them off.

Kimball, a VISTA volunteer, and the Lewiston exchange’s only employee, said she recently got a letter from someone concerned about the cost of plowing her driveway this winter. She offered to spend time visiting with others or making phone calls in exchange.

One 11-year-old boy recently earned a Time Dollar when he set up a lemonade stand in front of the new exchange office and handed out brochures to all his customers.

He’d either like to spend his Time Dollar on a tutor to learn Japanese, Kimball said. Or maybe a toy.

She plans to talk to local businesses to see if they would consider taking Time Dollars. She’s gotten initial interest from a hair salon and others could follow.

“It seems to make sense to see how to help each other and take money out of the equation,” Kimball said.

The new exchange will host Potluck “Twosdays” every week for members to eat, chat and network.

Shulman starts teaching a yoga, tai chi and mediation class Wednesday at 5:30, and she’ll do that every Wednesday evening.

“Often people are a little shy paying for a class,” said Shulman, a mathematics professor at Bates College. She figured this would be a way to introduce people, “and it would give me a chance to earn lots of massages.”