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Time Bank's ShareFest brings out the best of Mahoning Valley
YOUNGSTOWN
The Time Bank Mahoning Watershed is based on sort of a back-to-the-future concept in which members do unpaid work for one another or organizations to earn time credits, which they bank, and then spend when they themselves need help.
The Time Bank sponsored Mahoning Valley ShareFest from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Arab American Community Center in Liberty, attracting a number of people including real-estate agents, a group titled the Mahoning Valley Criminal Justice Reform Team, and Dawn Dominic of Hubbard Township, who was talking up her business called Talking Rocks: Say it on Stone! She described her business as a “cross between a Hallmark card and a gift.”
Dominic turns Lake Erie rocks of varying sizes into mementos in picture and rhyming words of virtually any occasion from a birth to a memorial, anniversary, graduation or pet memorials.
“I give the words to my husband, Ron, and he makes them rhyme,” Dominic said.
Time credits can by earned volunteering at church or the local food bank or mowing a lawn or shoveling walks for an elderly neighbor and spent by finding another Time Bank member who can perhaps teach them how to knit or play piano or bake cookies or use a cellphone.
“Everybody’s time is worth something,” said Tony Budak of Hubbard Township, founder and chief executive officer of the nonprofit Time Bank Mahoning Watershed, which covers Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Ohio and Mercer and Lawrence counties in Pennsylvania. Rose Kosko of Austintown is president of Time Bank, the operation of which is overseen by a board of directors.
Frank Naypaver, a handyman who was tinkering with an as-yet nonfunctioning tire pump, said he has gotten a few time exchanges through the Time Bank network. He is retired from Packard Electric, where he was a tool and die maker.
Budak, who also worked at Packard Electric and was active in the International Union of Electrical Workers Local 717 there, said the Time Bank mission is about more than bringing people together to exchange unpaid labor.
“We’re also building community and creating an extended family. Time banking for unpaid work is a satisfying way of working together. People use the Time Bank to rebuild a sense of community and belonging. Neighbors and co-workers get to know one another, find inspiration and have fun,” Budak said.
He said anyone can join Time Bank Mahoning Watershed, which is affiliated with national Time Bank networks, Timebank USA and Hour World.
People who want information about or to join Time Bank Mahoning Watershed can contact Budak at 1559 Warner Road, Hubbard, OH 44425; visit www.TBMW.org and click “Join,” or call 330-716-2722.