ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

Marcia Garland (right) volunteered three hours to make and deliver food for Bunni Martin-Nichols, who in turn will volunteer three or more hours as she participates with others in the Roanoke Valley TimeBank.

ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

Bunni Martin-Nichols (right) talks to Marcia Garland, who volunteered her time to make and deliver food. Martin-Nichols says she doesn't cook much because she lives alone.

Forget your old-fashioned notions about charity, where a do-gooder gets only a warm, fuzzy feeling in return.

TimeBank has a better idea.

"Giving has to be a two-way street," explains Paul Thompson, founder and membership coordinator of the new Roanoke Valley TimeBank, a program of the Conflict Resolution Center at 4504 Starkey Road.

The TimeBank philosophy is that "every single person is an asset," Thompson said. "The ability to give is probably the most important thing an individual can receive."

TimeBank was founded in the 1980s by Edgar Cahn, a one-time speechwriter for U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy.

Cahn, who was recovering from a heart attack at the time, believed everyone in a community has value -- even those living at life's margins. TimeBank was a way to tap into that value, and to help build community in our atomized society as well.

Cahn's idea has since spread like the cinders from that Iceland volcano, though with happier results. There are now TimeBanks in 22 countries and on six continents, according to the national Web site, Timebanks.org.

"It's huge in England," Thompson said.

Credits and debits

So how does TimeBank work?

First of all, there's no money involved -- only time. It all comes down to time credits and debits, which are recorded on the TimeBank Web site. The site is administered by Thompson.

The idea is that for every hour you spend helping someone, you'll get an hour credit for something you need help with. The hope is that people will take it upon themselves to keep their time accounts roughly balanced, though Thompson stressed that in this bank, there's nothing wrong with going into debt.

Services already being offered or looked for on the fledgling Roanoke TimeBank site include editing, yard work, car detailing, Spanish lessons, brochure and flyer design, knitting lessons, home-cooked meals, home repairs and Facebook page help.

"It's an open-ended, creative process," Thompson said of TimeBank. "The ideas are driven by the members themselves."

The payoff is not only in things accomplished, but community building, backers say. The TimeBank motto is: "Weaving community one hour at a time."

"Until you actually do it, you don't understand how it makes you feel, to realize, 'Wow, I really am a part of this community,' " Thompson said.

Getting to know others

Thompson, 49, is a former university instructor and policy wonk with four degrees who has lived in Roanoke since 2005. He began doing volunteer work at the resolution center in April 2009. He pitched the TimeBank to interim director Eddy Smart almost immediately, Smart recalled.

Smart liked it from the start. Building community is something he's been interested in for years.

"How come I don't know my neighbor's name?" he asks. "The fact that TimeBank offers a way to get to know people -- that was exciting to me."

Signing up is done through the TimeBank Web site. Applicants must fill out a registration form and have a face-to-face meeting with a membership coordinator. They are asked to check a minimum of three services they can offer from a long list, as well as three things they need.

The idea, says Thompson, is that people can help out by doing the things they most like to do.

"It's not meant to be this dour charity thing. It's meant to be fun."

The devil is in the details, of course -- and that's where Thompson comes in. Thompson will oversee the program and help out where needed, including helping people who don't use computers. As TimeBank gets more members, some can pay off their time debt by helping with administrative chores, he said.

Organizers are planning informational sessions around the community to spread the word about TimeBank. Roanoke currently has only about 20 members, many connected with the resolution center.

"We really haven't been actively seeking members from outside our circle" yet, Thompson said. "We expect to have at least a hundred members in six months. We would like to just keep growing and growing."

One demographic group that can benefit especially from TimeBank is the elderly, Thompson said. Older TimeBank members can earn credit in all kinds of ways -- by calling others to see how they are doing, or reminding them to take their medicine, or telling stories to children. Children, in turn, can help their elders with cleaning and chores.

TimeBank interactions help bridge social isolation -- "a big contributor to depression in the elderly," Thompson said.

Spreading the word

Although the Roanoke Valley TimeBank is just getting started, it already has its fans. Roanoke Tribune publisher Claudia Whitworth said it's a great idea, especially at a time when "everybody charges an arm and a leg to do nothing." Also, anyone can contribute, Whitworth noted. "It doesn't have to be professional skills, but just somebody who's kind."

Whitworth said working through TimeBank is better than informally volunteering to help someone because everything is monitored, and problems can be dealt with by the TimeBank coordinator if they arise.

"I intend to be a primary part of it, and help other people get involved, too," Whitworth said.

"It will help a lot of people," said Bunni Martin-Nichols, a member of Thompson's "kitchen cabinet" of TimeBank advisers, as well as one of the Roanoke TimeBank's first beneficiaries. Conflict Resolution Center business manager Marcia Garland recently cooked a supper of baked spaghetti and salad for Martin-Nichols, who hates to cook herself.

Martin-Nichols is looking forward to paying her TimeBank debt.

"I can teach sign language; I can form a choral youth group. I'd like to pass on some of the things I've learned to others," Martin-Nichols said. "Everybody has a lot of talent, whether they know it or not."