Guest Blog by Vilvi Vannak
Time banks are popular around the world, and Columbus is lucky enough to have a very active time banking community. Hello, my name is Vilvi Vannak; I am the president of the Care and Share Time Bank (CSTB), a time bank based right here in Columbus, Ohio!
What is the Care & Share Time Bank?
CSTB is part of a bigger organization, hOurworld, which boasts over 350,503 members and over 3,139,371 hours of services exchanged! The CSTB has over 560 members, with over 36,480 hours of services exchanged!
Why have a Time Bank?
Time Banks are popular for many reasons. Many people value the special feeling of community; the relationships they’ve formed by knowing the wonderful people they’ve worked with in the time bank contributes to their sense of accomplishment. Others love the knowledge that they are providing valuable work, that everyone can earn time credits and participate fully regardless of age or disability. The self-worth, dignity, and respect one gets by helping out others can be wonderfully fulfilling.
Difficult economic times that see most of us struggling to make ends meet, a general lack of community, and a feeling that our own hard work doesn’t get respect, all of these things can be helped with time banking! Perhaps you heard the broadcast of Freakonomics on Sunday, August 18, about time banking? Here is a link to the broadcast: Freakanomics broadcast.
Also, especially in tough economic times, a time bank can be important for middle-class and struggling families. Exchanges can be made without money. The idea is that everyone can provide and receive help!
How do they work?
To give an example of a time bank exchange: You help out another time bank member in cleaning out their garage. You work for 3 hours, so you earn 3 credits. Now, you can “spend” those credits for services you need. You need a ride to the airport, so you look on the time bank website where you see that 8 members are offering that service. You contact one of them and arrange for her to drive you to the airport. That job takes her 1 hour to perform, so you give her 1 of your 3 credit hours. You still have 2 credits to trade for other things, and she’s got the 1 she just earned.
But you’re not just trading back and forth with the same person; you’ve got over 560 people offering various services to you, and over 560 people asking for others to provide services to them.
The list of possible requests and offers goes on and on: dog walking, house sitting, reading the newspaper to relatives in a nursing home, simple household repairs, entertaining at a party, editing a memoir, sewing, leaf raking, snow shoveling, helping someone move to a new apartment or house, exercising, companionship. And many more.
Join the CSTB
The CSTB is free and welcoming. To join, go to Care & Share Time Bank, and click “Join”. Potlucks are held monthly on the third Sunday of the month in Clintonville, and people are welcome to join us to experience the CSTB and learn more. Our January 2026 potluck is specifically being set up to help people use and understand the CSTB, so now is the perfect time to come!
Many questions are addressed on our website at Care & Share Time Bank, and many can be addressed in this short video about using time banks Using Time Banks Video. If anyone has specific questions, I invite them to write to me at csgeneral27@gmail.com.
