Testimonials
Juliane Poirier
Time Bank Coordinator
Napa, California
Every time bank needs a Kim Hodge! Kim has been an enormous help—a friendly, quick-thinking organizer whose insight and clear ideas have been foundational to our success at every point along the way. I highly recommend Kim’s consultation services to anyone who wants seasoned expertise and shrewd guidance delivered with friendly humor, right when you need it. We honestly could not have made it this far or this fast without her.
Nico Gisholt
Coordinator, Hawk Nest TimeBank
E. Lansing, MI
Thanks to Kim and other Time Banks members the process of starting our own time bank has been especially enriching. We have been able to bring together people from our neighborhood that value each other’s time and want to use all the resources at hand to create a network of support among its members.
We have organized two main community events – a picnic and a recycling drive, both of them with good feedback from the neighbors and a very fun experience for all of us who were more actively involved in organizing them.
There is still work to be done but I see great value in MI Alliance of TimeBanks’ mission of connecting and supporting Time Banks around the state. By providing insight, motivation, strategic help and services as well as assisting individuals, organizations and communities in creating and operating their own TimeBanks, the state of Michigan will benefit greatly, especially in these difficult times.
Paul Thompson
TimeBank Membership Coordinator
Roanoke, Virginia
Kim Hodge understands that Time Banking is only beginning to tap into its real potential to improve the well-being of members, facilitate increasingly varied and innovative exchanges, and enhance collaboration among organizations to improve the services they offer clients and reach out more effectively to their surrounding communities. Consistent with these insights, she also understands that just as TimeBanking helps bring members closer together, it also is key to improving the reciprocity among individual TimeBanks themselves. Her help in clarifying issues associated with membership policies was invaluable to our group’s efforts to launch a TimeBank in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley. Not only was her assistance useful, it made me feel like I was part of a real community of caring, supportive TimeBank leaders, and consequently, I can’t wait to spend time helping others in their own efforts to spread Time Banking wherever it is needed.
Terry Whitfield
Bridging Communities
Detroit, MI
The concept of Time Banks were foreign to me before the summer of 2009, and then I started to hear more on the subject, the great things that TimeBanks can be for neighborhoods, and what they were doing to bring individual communities closer. And then I read an article about the Lathrup Village Time Bank and how it was the first of its kind in Michigan, and how it was bringing the neighborhood closer together. As a Community Organizer, that caught my attention. Fast Forward 4 months, and I now am responsible for building a Time Bank in my neighborhood, and the first people I could think of was the Lathrup Village Time Bank. I met with Ms Kim Hodge, and she helped me to see the vision of what a successful Time Bank can do for neighbors and their community. I saw young people cutting the grass of an Elder, and in turn, that Elder stitching the hole in that Youth’s pair of jeans. Or of two neighbors who never spoke to one another, now playing cards once a month and are now good friends, because of the TIme Bank system. After one hour with Ms Kim, I knew that the Banking system is one that can transform lives, neighborhoods, communities, THE WORLD!! By working with each other, we can accomplish so much more. The word TEAM, as an acronym, is generally regarded as Together Everyone Achieves More. That is what the Time Bank system is about, and I’m glad that organizations like the Lathrup Village Time Bank, as well as the Michigan Alliance of Time Banks exist. They’ve helped pave the way for my neighborhood’s Time Bank to be the best it can be… mainly because we have the BEST support any organization can have!
Debbie Davis
Milwaukee Area Time Exchange Co-Coordinator
Milwaukee, WI
Last summer Michelle and I wandered into a National Time Banking Conference, latecomers and newbies. We met Kim Hodge from the Lathrup Village Time Bank. Her outstanding organizer’s sensibilities, deep enthusiasm for the time banking vision and many inspiring anecdotes from Lathrup Village, MI sent us running from conference back to the neighborhood. Our Milwaukee (Area) Time Exchange was founded two months later. At every step in our development we have benefitted from the mentorship of regional Time Banking pioneers. Collaboration between local time banks builds efficacy, sustains joy and moves us all closer to an equitable, just society. We hope to continue honing skills and extending vision in the company of regional time banking peers and pioneers.
Cindy Czubko
Saline, MI
Community members from the City of Saline were considering starting a Time Bank program and found out that Kim Hodge, Lathrup Village Time Bank program coordinator, would be willing to talk with us regarding the start up of a program in our own community. After reviewing the Lathrup Village and the National Time Bank site, we set up a conference call with Kim. She was extremely helpful and was able to answer all of our questions, even the ones we didn’t know to ask! Her willingness to spend time with us to help us understand how this program can make a difference in our community and to share the nuts and bolts of startup was very much appreciated. We now understand the program, and with that understanding we will be better able to move it forward to the next step. Thank you, Kim!
