Welcome to the Chicago Time Exchange!

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If you would like to sign up, please read "IMPORTANT!" below, under "Getting Started with our TimeBank," to ensure you receive the validation email!

The Chicago Time Exchange is currently in the planning/development phase as we are still learning about how to create and operate a TimeBank. We expect all our members to help support the development of the TimeBank—in fact, it will not work without everyone’s support. We want to make this TimeBank a thriving community of exchanges and connections!

The text below is general to all TimeBanks and will be revised to reflect the specific mission and goals of the Chicago Time Exchange.

TimeBanks have three main goals:

·         Strengthen the fabric of our community.

·         Serve people and give them a means to serve.

·         Establish new relationships and meet real needs of our community members.

We recognize that each person has talents to share, and that the overall community is strengthened when neighbors help one another. For every hour that you help meet the needs of another member, you earn a time credit for the exchange. This time credit can then be redeemed for services from others, and the cycle of sharing continues.

Getting started with our TimeBank:

·         Create a login and fill out your member profile.

·         Be as specific as possible—add a photo and tell about yourself!

·         IMPORTANT! After signing up you will be sent an email to validate your account. If you do not see this email in your Inbox within a few minutes, check your junk mail folder. Please "whitelist" Chicago Time Exchange by adding chicago@community.timebanks.org to your contacts to ensure that email from us does not get sent to your junk mail folder in the future.

·         Attend an orientation or call Jami at 816.682.9322 to get your account activated.  Your account will not be activated until you complete this step.

·         Post at least 2 offers based on your skills, talents, and interests.  These are things you can offer other members!

·         Post at least 2 requests for skills or talents that other members can provide for you.

Ongoing Use of the TimeBank:

·         Don't hesitate to respond to an offer or request. This is exactly how new sharing and relationships are built which strengthen our community.

·         Please respond in a timely manner to calls or emails you receive from other members about the requests of offers you've posted.

·         After you've communicated with a member and determined a service exchange is appropriate, make specific arrangements how to coordinate the exchange.

·         Fulfill the exchange and record the hours in your account

·         Come back and review offers and requests from other members.

·         Do this again and again to help keep our TimeBank community alive and flourishing.

·         IMPORTANT!  One of the expectations of being a member of the Chicago Time Exchange is seeking out people who might use your services or people who provide the things you need.  Everyone who supports the Chicago Time Exchange is currently a volunteer.  Matching offers and requests is something that is only going to come about through work with the community and having a diverse population.  We expect all our members to help us find those matches.

 

For more information, please contact Jami at jamibecka@gmail.com or 816.682.9322 or visit our blog at chicagotimeexchange.wordpress.com!

What can we trade?

Members help each other with everything from making phone calls to doing yard work, pet care to giving rides to the store. Are you an expert at something? Someone in the neighborhood would LOVE to have your help. Be creative! No offer is too small, no request is too great.
 
Sample of current offers: self-hypnosis instruction, tutoring, kids books, homemade, bread, fundraising help, greening your home, chicago food co-op, interior painting, spanish language proof reading, document editing, visit the art institute for free, document editing
 
Sample of current requests: installing a floor, installing a dishwasher, removing garbage disposal, garage light rewiring/rehanging, door rehanging, hauling and moving, sign language practice, clothes mending, help with website design/blogging, softball/baseball partner, language practice, children for psychological test
 

Answering Offers and Requests

Timebanking is about meeting your neighbors. Before you answer your first offer or request, we encourage you to meet your fellow timebankers at a Community Event.  Community Skill Shares are hosted the 15th of every month (6:30pm on weeknights and 4:00pm on Saturdays or Sundays).  When you do answer an offer or request, be appropriately aware of the potential risk of having a "stranger" come to your home. Chicago Time Exchange and Timebanks USA, as organizations, assume no responsibility for this risk. If you don't feel comfortable with the other person, don't answer answer the offer or request. We encourage you to arrange to meet in a public place, like a cafe or park.
 

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