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would we be without volunteers? Parents helping in schools. People
befriending in hospitals. Scout leaders,
counsellors in Citizens’ Advice Bureaux,
people running clubs for the elderly.
Kingston has over 300 voluntary
groups. Partly to celebrate this contribution I
won a recent debate in Parliament on
volunteering. I told the Minister the importance
of the voluntary sector for Kingston, and
explored ideas for encouraging more people to
volunteer.
For every volunteer group I
visit in Kingston tells me they need more
helpers, especially younger people.
Government is promoting
volunteering. I welcomed, for instance, their
encouragement for employers to give staff one
paid day off a year for voluntary work.
But more should be done.
I’m taken with an American idea called
"time banks".
"Time banks" work
like a babysitting club. When you help a
neighbour, you earn a time credit: when you need
some help, a neighbour, most likely a different
one, will help you.
Time is the
"currency", where an hour of help
grocery shopping equals an hour of help filling
in a tax return. Some American time banks provide
monthly statements, recording the flow of good
deeds.
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It’s
different from traditional volunteering, because
you may get help back. But what’s
interesting is how many people don’t cash in
their time credits: they just get more involved
in helping their community. In fact, time banks’ founder, Edgar
Cahn, describes them as a "tool for
re-building community". Experience shows
people who might not normally volunteer do come
forward. For "time money" buys things
ordinary money can’t, such as friendship and
neighbourliness – and recognises that help.
Time banks are organised in
many ways – perhaps on a housing estate, in
a GP’s practice or through a community
centre. Inner city US schools use them, with
older pupils helping younger ones, earning time
credits for buying refurbished computers: grades
have risen and bullying fallen.
To find out more, visit my
website. This links to Parliament’s website,
which has the debate as well as other speeches,
my committee work and voting. Or visit www.neweconomics.org/timemoney for a fuller explanation of time banks
in the UK.
If you want to volunteer, I can
put you in touch with Kingston Voluntary Action,
who support local groups.
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