Making Charity a Two-Way Transaction

We need to correct one inadvertent but significant error in The Chronicle‘s thoughtful, thorough, and generous coverage of time dollars and time banking. The headline “Trading Favors for Charity” (January 26) is at direct odds with the vision that drives time banking in at least two ways.

Charity defines people by their needs and problems; time banking starts from the opposite premise — that everyone has something special to contribute.

Charity is essentially a one-way transaction: It asks, How can I help you? Time banking is a two-way transaction: Its premise is that we need each other. We are interdependent. Together, we can build the kind of world we all want to live in.

Additionally, the work done by time-bank members goes far beyond favors.

Teenage jurors earning time dollars handled cases that involved nearly 700 juveniles charged with nonviolent crimes and reduced recidivism by over 50 percent. Older students earned time dollars tutoring first and second graders. They were not trading favors; they were functioning as educators.

When neighbors help neighbors, they are in fact restoring the ecosystem of our species. When they generate social capital, reduce crime, enhance learning, and provide ancillary health care, they are not simply trading favors; they are engaged in generating system change.

Edgar S. Cahn
Chief Executive Officer
Time Banks USA
Washington