Need childcare? Meals? Rides? House painted? Car fixed? Heavy items moved? Want to help those around you? Share time and talents with neighbors through a system called Time banking! Time banking is simply about spending an hour doing something for somebody in your community. That hour goes into your time bank account as a “Troy Shares Hour.” Then, you have an Hour to spend on someone doing something for you.
Time banking is about sharing time, but it’s also so much more. Troy Shares is about strengthening communities. It’s about shifting from a situation in which neighbors are strangers, wary of each other, to a situation in which neighbors help each other. It’s about shifting from feeling like we have to do it all ourselves to opening ourselves up to receiving help.
Is there some little thing you do that you enjoy and are good at? Well Troy Shares will match you up to the people who value that skill, who will pay you Troy Shares hours for doing that thing that you enjoy doing. That has been the best thing for me, finding that the things that I just do naturally, because that’s what I like to do, are things that can be useful to other people and are valued by other people.
People will pay you Troy Shares hours for doing things you love to do, and then you can spend those Troy Shares hours on finding someone who loves to do that chore that you hate to do.
The goal of Troy Shares is that when we pool our efforts instead of going it alone, everyone’s gifts will be appreciated, everyone’s needs will be met, and in the process, the bonds of community will be strengthened.