The Milwaukee Area Time Exchange was founded in August of 2009 to serve communities in and surrounding Milwaukee County. Founders included Debbie Davis, Marc Rassbach, Carolyn Weber and Michelle Vidovic. We are a not-for-profit under the fiscal agency of the 501(c)3 non-profit Dane County Time Bank and are affilitiated with Timebanks USA.
In the spring of 2010 we received funding from both the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and the UWM Community University Partnership Grant. We are very grateful for this support.
In July of 2010, we partnered with the Milwaukee Network for Social Change and the Riverwest Health Initiative to found the Wright Street Resource Center. The WSRC will provide a free store (mNSC), health referrals (RHI), community meeting/event space, public computer lab and low-cost office space for community organizations. We are set to open in October of 2010
Members meet monthly for introduction and orientation meetings, followed by a potluck and member meeting. In addition, we have periodic community building events and work projects. Monthly meetings are the third Thursdays of the month at our storefront office in the Wright Street Resource Center (901 E. Wright). We look forward to meeting you at an event soon!
TimeBanks – The Five Core Values
TimeBanking turns strangers into friends
Have you ever wished you had someone around to give you a ride somewhere, help you run some errands, pick you up after you’ve dropped your car off for repairs, or just give you a hand when you need it. Someone you really trust?
Many of us have friends, neighbors and family members who help us out, but they can’t always be there in a pinch. In a TimeBanking community, someone is always there when you need them.
It is like having an extended family to help out—with rides to the doctor, trips to the supermarket, help with the yard, chores around the house or childcare.
With TimeBanking, sharing gifts means building trust. TimeBanking honors the unique gifts, talents and resources that each of us has to share, regardless of age, employment or ethnic background — such as tutoring, yard work, simple repairs, running errands, and storytelling. It’s labor with love. TimeBanks exist to promote exchanges that honor five core values.
1) Assets – We are all assets
Every human being has something to contribute.
2) Redefining Work – Some work is beyond price
Work has to be redefined to value whatever it takes to raise healthy children, build strong families, revitalize neighborhoods, make democracy work, advance social justice, make the planet sustainable. That kind of work needs to be honored, recorded and rewarded.
3) Reciprocity – Helping works better as a two-way street
The question: “How can I help you?” needs to change so we ask: “How can we help each other build the world we both will live in?”
4) Social Networks – We need each other
Networks are stronger than individuals. People helping each other reweave communities of support, strength & trust. Community is built upon sinking roots, building trust, creating networks. Special relationships are built on commitment.
5) Respect – Every human being matters
Respect underlies freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and everything we value. Respect supplies the heart and soul of democracy. When respect is denied to anyone, we all are injured. We must respect where people are in the moment, not where we hope they will be at some future point.
