This September newsletter details a member work project, member meetings, a local music festival and a member marketplace. Read on and tell me what you think of adding these new categories to the Berkshire Timebank Newsletter and how Berkshire Timebank can become a bigger part of your life.

Sincerely,

Bob Connors
Co-coordinator

MEMBER WORK PROJECT

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18,10 AM TO 12 PM

As Tom Sawyer illustrated, painting can be SO much fun; especially when it becomes a social event. Bob and Becky need to paint their outside shed, in Canaan, NY (about twenty minutes from Stockbridge and Pittsfield). They have begun the scrapping work, but need help finishing the scrapping and beginning the painting. They have all the equipment (but if you have a favorite scrapping tool or paintbrush, bring it along). Wear your painting clothes.

They will provide a lunch incentive!

Feel free to bring your garden flowers or vegetables to exchange.

RSVP to Becky: beckyjmeier@gmail.com.

If you have a work project at your house that you would like help with, email beckyjmeier@gmail.com and we’ll advertise it in the next newsletter.

We know that Berkshire Timebank prospers when members get together, so this is a great way to do that and earn some BT hours too!

Drivers Wanted

Many people need someone to drive them to appointments, errands, or out of state visits. If you are looking for something that you can offer through Berkshire Timebank, think no further, driving would be a very helpful offer. To submit a new offer, log in (from our website), go to the “my account” tab (at upper right), then “my services” tab (on left), then click on “add new offer” button and follow instructions. Contact Michael at 413-232-7937 or michaelcosterisan@yahoo.com if you need technical help.

Ridebuzz.org

If you are interested in carpooling, click here for a helpful new website called Ridebuzz.org. This website originated out of Northampton, but the more people who use it in the Berkshires, the larger the local pool will be.

MEMBER MARKETPLACE

A member marketplace can increase member contact and improve the local economy. Send an email with a list of items that you wish to buy, sell or exchange to beckyjmeier@gmail.com and these requests will be posted in future BT newsletters.

WANTED :

Rototiller, push lawnmower, weed wacker, hedge trimmer, medium tolarge size screen house, solar yard accent lights, picnic table. Contact Bob or Becky: 518-781-4686

FOR SALE:

Wooden Extension Ladder (Contact Becky or Bob)

Potluck Host Needed

The best way for Berkshire Timebank to flourish is through member to member contact.

Would you like to host the next Berkshire Timebank potluck for October? Call Bob at 413-464-3345 and we’ll give you help and support.

Welcome New Member:

Nancy Beach

Recent Exchanges:

Body Work by Mikka to Michael

House Care by Bob to Diana

Car ride by Bob

C to Bob A

Presentation consultation by Becky to Karen

MEMBER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Please send us news that you would like to share with the Berkshire Timebank community, and we will try to present it in future BT newsletters. For example, the following was sent to us by member Paul Deslauriers:

A Fund Raiser for Berkshire Co-Act

Sunday September 18 from 1 to 8 pm

Join in the celebration and fun with 9 bands playing

48 High Street, Housatonic, MA

Check out who is playing http://debfest.com/

Food and drinks will be available

Berkshire Co-Act Meeting Agenda for Tuesday, September 20

Growing Nutrition-Dense Foods for Self-Sufficiency

6:30 PM Pot Luck; Meeting 7:30 – 9:30 PM

Pearl Street Day Center (First United Methodist Church)

55 Fenn St. (use Pearl St. Entrance), Pittsfield

The second right on North St from the old traffic circle

At 6:30 pm along with the Pot Luck, we will also have a showing of “Dirt”, an interesting documentary on soil nutrition.

Interesting Link

Click here to see a video on alternative currencies which features Timebanks at the end.

Bands Playing

We supply the music, and you supply the food, drinks, chairs, blanket, umbrella, etc. No smoking at this event, please.

$10 donation to Co-Act is much appreciated!

If you’d like to come, please let us know by sending an RSVP to Paul Deslauriers at paul@co-act.org or use our Contact Form!

6:30 - 7:30 PM potluck; 7:30 - 9:30 meeting at 55 Fenn St., Pittsfield, MA

Potluck begins at 6:30

Along with the potluck, we will have a showing of “Dirt”, an informative documentary on soil nutrition.

Presentation begins at 7:30

With the economy as it is, we have a timely topic for this evening: David Yarrow, who has been a food and farm activist for 35 years, will discuss the process of creating soil balance for optimum plant growth. He will use four of Co-Act Food Net’s gardens as examples. We will also discuss food storage and preparedness for self-sufficiency.

David Yarrow organized NOFA-NY with its certification program and Finger Lakes Organic Co-op. He has been active in developing inexpensive methods to regain soil balance for optimum plant growth and says that even a small plot can produce enough to feed a family.

The potluck and meeting will be held at the Pearl Street Day Center (inside First United Methodist Church) at 55 Fenn St. in Pittsfield, MA. From North St. take the second right past the old traffic circle onto Fenn St. Take the second left onto Pearl St. and use the Pearl St. entrance. There is free parking in the city parking lot across the street.

Berkshire Center for the Homeless and Unemployed

Help us help those in need: volunteer on Tuesdays or Thursdays

The Local Emergency Food System

Become part of a team to harvest and deliver fresh produce to 14 meal sites

If you would like to support these projects, call 413-232-7888.

• Do you think your federal, state or local governments will improve your life in the next year?
• Do you think these entities have the resources or ability to do so?
• Do you think that your life will improve economically in the next year?
• Do you think that you can improve your neighbor’s life in the next year?
• Do you think your neighbors can improve your life in the next year?

I’ve answered with three straight “No’s” and two straight “Yes’s.” How about you?

Be proactive and help yourself while helping others: use your local resources and your heart!!

Sure, you are thinking there are many things that you already do to improve your life and your community, but how many are like Berkshire Timebank and are basically free to use, seven days per week? How many are “person to person” interactions with immediate results and benefits? Berkshire Timebank is literally at your fingertips.

I am challenging you right now, to pause, get out of your comfort zone, and go straight to Berkshire Timebank “Member Offerings” and “Member Requests,” and contact one new member(s) and then one familiar member(s) to work with and renew your commitment to creating a more functional community!

Berkshire Timebank will also increase its chances of receiving grants or other types of outside assistance when its activity level increases.

I will know about any interactions immediately (as the co-coordinator of Berkshire Timebank) and my facial expression will go from one of watchful waiting to satisfaction as a result of your combined efforts.

Sincerely,

Bob Connors
Co-coordinator

The Food Net is a local food support system

The Food Net’s growth is due to the generosity of supporting organizations like the Lenox Garden Club and The Great Barrington Rotary Club, businesses such as Indian Line Farms and Woven Roots Farm, and individuals such as Owen De Ris. Our largest contributor over the past year has been Berkshire Organics, located in Dalton, which averaged over 250 pounds of organic produce every week throughout the year to those in need.

Co-Act’s Food Net brings previously separate, food-related components into one supportive network promoting a locally sustainable food system. Emergency systems need back-ups, especially with basic food needs. The present main supplier provides mostly processed, refined foods with access and distribution relying on federal government networks. The Food Net is not dependent on vulnerable federal government grants or on expensive transportation networks. We are a local grassroots network.

Community Gardens: Gardens such as the Pearl Street Day Center and West Side Farm Project have been very productive. Children who participate in the lunch program at our Pearl Street site also learn about growing food and become empowered by providing for their community.

School Gardens: “Project Sprout,” located at Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington, is an example of a successful student-run school garden. Students initiated the concept and continue to maintain the garden organically. A majority of the harvest is donated to The Food Net. The garden has become a significant learning tool for students who then teach other students, passing on gardening knowledge. The program has successfully completed its third season.

Farmers’ “Second Harvest”: During 2010, The Food Net’s “Second Harvest” program yielded approximately 4,000 pounds of produce. One “Food Net” participant explains what the “Food Net” has meant to her. According to Jen Salinetti of Woven Roots Farm in Lee: “In the past, we used to compost our unsold vegetable starts and crops. It feels so good to know that people in need are able to plant community gardens and eat fresh produce thanks to the collaboration between our farm and the Food Net.”

“Grow an Extra Row”: Private gardens in our program donate about 30 pounds of fresh produce weekly. By simply working in their own backyards, gardeners get the additional satisfaction of serving a financially challenged population. We are looking at expanding this pilot program to 20 private gardens, as well as organizations like the Lenox Garden Club.

Food Distributors: Berkshire Organics has been a regular weekly supplier of food to the Food Net. We encourage you to shop at their Dalton store. Restaurants, resorts, and grocery stores are also part of this food network through the “Buy One, Leave One” program, collecting 4,200 pounds of high protein foods last year.

Food Preserving: Experimentation with two small food dryers in 2010 revealed food drying to be a wise approach. We have built solar dryers and are now experimenting with drying kale and tomatoes.

Millions of people are starving around the world and there is enough food to feed them all. Something is not right. There must be a better way.

Education should help to develop the potential in every child and yet we use it to test and sort children. We are degrading our natural world and yet we aren’t pursuing greener policies or forbidding known practices of destruction. We elect good decent people to positions of power and they end up enforcing the status quo. Millions of people are sick (and some die) from preventable illnesses and yet we can’t find a way to guarantee health care to everyone. Something is not right. There must be a better way.

Millions of people are unemployed and yet there is so much work to be done. Wars continue to kill thousands and create havoc for millions and yet we continue to use it as less than a last resort. 1/10th of 1% percent of the population owns 34% of the entire wealth of the United States. Something is not right. There must be a better way.

I could go on and on…

As I think about working to eradicate some of the above problems, I feel overwhelmed. Good things have been accomplished in all of the above areas, but yet the basic system persists. Is there some underlying problem that could move toward solving all of the above problems? Much of it seems to be caused by either a lack of money or an unequal distribution of money. Why is that? Is it inevitable? If we could solve the money problem, it seems we could solve many of our other problems.

The only real constraints to our productivity are our natural resources, technology, and the ability of people to be productive.  Money was invented as a way to create a way of exchanging goods and services when bartering wasn’t feasible. John may need what Mary produces, but Mary might not need what John produces. Money became a way to represent the value of an exchange. But along the way it has changed its meaning and become an entity in and of itself, rather than a representation of exchanged value. And the source and control of money has become consolidated in the hands of a small group of private citizens.

As I feel more uncertainty about the national economy, I like the idea of working on solutions at the community level. Imagine a community assembling to assess its own needs, decide its priorities, discuss the best ways of getting this work done, and making a plan for accomplishing this based on the resources available in the community. Is there a way to make that possible?

The non-profit organization, Common Good Finance, thinks there is. A new understanding of where money comes from and what money really “is” opens up new possibilities. William Spademan, a social activist, computer programmer, teacher, nonprofit business incubator, artist, and Quaker from Ashfield, Massachusetts has been working on a plan to make this systemic shift possible.  Since 2002 he has been researching alternative models, educating himself about money, talking with people in economic and democratic movements, and creating computer software to bring this all together. In 2002 he created the non-profit organization titled The Society to Benefit Everyone which turned into the organization Common Good Finance.  The Campaign for the Common Good was officially launched on July 10, 2011. Its plan is to create a bank and a community decision-making group that will give citizens the power to govern their own resources. The purpose of the bank is to create and distribute money. The purpose of the community group is to assess community needs, decide its priorities, discuss the best ways of getting this work done, and make a plan for accomplishing this based on the resources available in the community.

The Common Good Finance Organization is working to charter a for-profit bank in the state of Massachusetts. This bank will function very much like all other for-profit banks. It will be FDIC insured and provide regular banking services. The only difference is that the investors agree to use the profits of the bank to benefit the Common Good rather than themselves. The profits of the bank will be distributed in grants to organizations and causes voted on by every person who has money in the bank. In addition the bank members will also vote on a broad policy of lending priorities for the bank. Those are nice features, but not about to solve the world’s problems.

The more powerful aspect of the plan lies with the Common Good Community Group. This group will use a mutual credit system, the bank’s ability to create money, and new democratic methods to create a better community.  These three methods are all complicated and take time and study to understand. The Common Good Finance organization is beginning that education process and laying the foundation for making the dream a reality.

These three concepts are explained in ridiculously summary form below, just to whet your appetite for understanding them better.

I always thought that the money that banks loaned people was money it held in its vaults from other people’s deposits. I was wrong. Apparently banks can lend money they don’t have based on your promise to pay it back (with interest!). In that way it creates new money. By owning our own bank, we will have that capacity to “create money”.

Mutual Credit associations are tried and true organizations around the world. They are mostly used in what is known as “business to business barter exchanges” (an actual misnomer since they don’t barter, they use mutual credit). Rather than buy and sell products (or services) with Federal Reserve cash, they use an accounting system to keep track of exchanges and thereby save Federal Reserve cash. The Common Good Bank will use this type of system between all its members.

Our representative system of democracy often makes us feel disenfranchised. There are many other models of democratic decision making that are more effective in representing the interests of the electorate. Several of them have been incorporated into the plan for the Common Good Bank.

• Voting on where the profits of the bank should go will use a method of proportional distribution. Every member receives one hundred pennies and distributes his/her pennies to the proposed organizations in the proportion of his/her interest.
• To vote on important community decisions, every member of the bank (no matter how much money s/he has invested) has one vote and every vote is counted for each decision. To make this happen every member chooses a proxy when they join the bank. This proxy is someone they trust to make decisions similar to what they them self would make.  For every decision, every members’ vote is counted. Each member is encouraged to vote for themselves. In the event they cannot or choose not to vote, the vote of their proxy will count for them. If their proxy does not vote, then the proxy’s proxy’s vote will count for all three… A person can change their proxy at any time. This system assures 100% participation in decisions.
• A third more democratic practice is called the Condorcet voting method, which helps avoid a winner take all election and comes to an outcome that better represents the sense of the group.

These methods will bring about decision making that is more inclusive and representative of the body’s wishes.

To make The Common Good Society a reality, organization work is in progress.  As the CGF Board of Directors gets everything in order to fulfill the charter requirements for the State of Massachusetts, organizers are spreading out to educate people about the plan and raise the money needed to fund the project. A business plan is already developed. Money is needed to fund the organization effort. 1.5 million dollars are needed in the chartering process and 10 million dollars are needed to open the bank. The hope is to raise enough money to start the chartering process in 2012 and open the bank’s doors by the summer of 2013. In order to accomplish this, a Founding Members’ plan has been established. People who choose to be Founding Members are asked to immediately donate a small amount to go toward the organizational effort, to loan a larger amount when pledges equal 1.5 million to charter the bank, and then to commit to move an even larger amount as a member share when the bank opens.  (For example a Founding Member might donate $50, loan $250 and later buy a $2,000 member share. It would take 5,000 members at this level of contribution.)

This is a lofty dream. But it seems possible. I want to work toward a solution to our mutual problems, rather than complain about them. I want to be surrounded by people who believe in people, and generate the excitement that hope and a plan create. I invite you to join us.

Look at the website to learn more details, www.commongoodbank.com.

As you may already know, we are now calling our initiative “the revolution with a bank”, because it truly is a game-changer. To have the money to do the things we need and want to do in our local communities will make all the difference.

Here are the meeting details:

• Thursday, August 11, from 7-9 pm at the First United Methodist Church, 55 Fenn Street, in Pittsfield.

The presentations, which are free and open to the public, will include an introduction, the Money Game, and discussion. Refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome. We’ll start and end on time.

Be sure to bring your friends!

To learn more about Common Good Finance, go to:

www.commongoodbank.com or email info@CommonGoodBank.com

If you have questions about the presentations:

email or call Becky Meier at beckyjmeier@commongoodbank.comor 518-781-4686

or Janet Henderson at jmhenderson@commongoodbank.com or 413-347-0252.

Fundraiser to benefit ***The Pearl Street Day Center***

JULY 21, 2011 6:00 pm
The First United Methodist Church
55 Fenn Street Pittsfield

The Pearl Street Day Center is a non-profit collaboration serving the Homeless and Unemployed in Berkshire County offering a range of services including job development, computer and internet education and use, phones, showers, service placement, and community.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SALE at 4:00 pm – Proceeds to support the opening of emergency overnight shelter for the most vulnerable citizens of our community. This past winter over 15 people slept outside in the cold.

YOU can help us make sure this doesn’t happen again!!
with your tax-deductible cash DONATIONS,
Used/unused INSTRUMENTS, and PURCHASES! ! !

For More Info Call:

(413) 445- 4445

6:30 PM Pot Luck; Meeting 7:30 – 9:30 PM

Pearl Street Day Center at the First United Methodist Church

55 Fenn St. (use Pearl St. entrance), Pittsfield,  MA. Take the second right on North St. from the old traffic circle.

While you’re at the church, ask Paul to take a tour of the Pearl Street Day Center and learn about the various job initiatives that are on-going, or beginning, to help to increase employment opportunities for the unemployed and underemployed of central Berkshire County.

Initiatives

Berkshire Center for the Homeless and Unemployed

Help us help those in need: Volunteer on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

The Local Emergency Food System

Become part of a team to harvest and deliver fresh produce to 14 meal sites.

Call 413-232-7888 if you would like to support these projects.

Concert with other local musicians to follow!

THIRD THURSDAY

JULY 21, 2011 6:00 pm
The First United Methodist Church
55 Fenn Street Pittsfield

While you’re there, join us for:

Fundraiser to benefit

***The Pearl Street Day Center***

A non-profit collaboration serving the Homeless and Unemployed in Berkshire County
offering a range of services including job development, computer and internet education
and use, phones, showers, service placement and community.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SALE at 4:00 pm – Proceeds
to support the opening of emergency overnight shelter for
the most vulnerable citizens of our community. This past
winter over 15 people slept outside in the cold.

YOU can help us make sure this doesn’t happen again!!
with your tax-deductible cash DONATIONS,
Used/unused INSTRUMENTS, and PURCHASES! ! !

For More Info Call:

(413) 445- 4445