Who We Are
We are a growing group of dynamic, multi-talented individuals and service and community groups who want to form a more cohesive, supportive and sovereign community. We are mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters from all walks of life with something to offer: our time and our talents.
Members range from 12 to 70. Our membership is currently focused in the Rainier, Yelm and Tenino areas of east Thurston County of Washington State. We also have members joining from Olympia and the McKenna and Roy areas of south Pierce County.
We welcome all individuals, neighborhood groups/associations, school community service programs, churches and civic organizations to join us in building community by trading time. If you have a project in mind, please contact us, and perhaps we can build community together.
Our Vision
The Hour 4 Hour Time Exchange Bank, serving Thurston County, strengthens our communities through the existing informal support systems of family, neighborhood and individuals by creating and facilitating a network of service exchanges among members.
Core Values
Neighbors helping neighbors is as old as our species, yet we are losing touch with the pleasures of being in community. Time banks are using the Internet to reintroduce neighbors to each other and the joys of doing things for each other in reciprocal relationships.
Hour 4 Hour Time Exchange (H4HTE) is a community of people in rural Thurston County of Washington State who believe in and function with five core values:
- Assets – Every human being has something to contribute.
- Redefining Work – Work that has value includes whatever it takes to raise healthy children, build strong families, revitalize neighborhoods, make democracy work, advance social justice and make the planet sustainable. This kind of work is to be honored, recorded and rewarded.
- Reciprocity – The questions, “How can I help you?” and “How can you help me?” are seen in a new context so that we ask, “How can we help each other build a world that is healthy for us both to live in?”
- Social Networks – People help each other weave communities of support, strength and trust based on mutual respect and commitment.
- Respect – We hear and respond to the voices of all to promote social justice.
To learn more about this new twist on a fundamental human need and custom, please visit www.timebanks.org.