Update from the tour – New Orleans! California conference!

Hello

I’m writing from Pasadena CA where we just finished the great CA Federation of TimeBanks Conference. The Federation did a wonderful job of organizing and we got to meet lots of CA-area timebankers and hear from Edgar Cahn, outgoing TimeBanks USA CEO Chris Gray Cahn, incoming TimeBanks USA CEO Lisa Conlan, and many more luminaries. I was on yesterday’s panel and did a 2-hour timebanking training with Sheryl Walton. Today I’ll do a Learning Facilitation training to help develop more training and support capacity in the area. Tomorrow Leander and I will do a Build for the World workshop and enlist some partner projects. We’ll be able to show our Build profile site, which Preston is busy finishing up now.

And New Orleans was fantastic! In addition to a great show and seeing lots of what makes New Orleans a truly unique and fascinating place, I had the honor of being part of the birth of the new NOLA Timebank!
About 35 people came to a potluck at the Himalayan Association community room and decided on the spot to get started on a timebank. By the next day they had a facebook page up with 60 friends and they’re moving fast on organizing. New Orleans is such a perfect place for this kind of organizing and I’m really impressed with how well people are doing and how thoughtful they’re being about how they move forward, focusing on being sure to pull in people from lots of different backgrounds and demographics.

A woman who learned of the timebank potluck at my show, Victoria, came and brought lots of organizing background and skills. The woman who spearheaded the organizing of the potluck, Marcela, is an old friend of Autumn Rooney from the Echo Park timebank and CA Federation. Autumn also referred a former Echo Park steering team member who’d recently moved to NOLA. We also had folks referred by Edgar Cahn, and Bev Bell and Lauren Elliot of Other Worlds are Possible. A great group to start with.

After LA we’ll be heading to San Francisco where we’ll meet with current and future timebankers and discuss in-depth how to approach timebanking as a way to improve life for elders and people with disabilities. Then Seattle, Portland, Boise and onward.. I’ll write as we go.

Thanks for reading!
–Stephanie