Selwyn Timebank

One family who has enormously benefitted from Selwyn Timebank is a young couple with a child from Colombia, who had recently moved to Lincoln for one year. While the husband was at Uni all day and the child was at school, the lady stayed at home, feeling quite isolated. Her English skills could have improved and she found it hard to make new friends until she became part of Selwyn Timebank. 
Another Timebank member met with her every week over a coffee to help her improve her English speaking skills. They became close friends, and through the lessons, she gained confidence and even found herself a volunteer job.
She also participated in various workshops offered by Selwyn Timebank, and just before they went back to Colombia, she even helped deliver a workshop on making beeswax wraps. She had done all the research on how to perfect the recipe and again was very proud of the result. 
The husband contributed by working in people’s gardens in his free time, and in return, he got help with his final thesis, where another member did the proofreading for him. A service he would never be able to pay for in money with his modest student allowance. He even got his graduation certificate “with distinction”. 
They went back to Colombia with a great feeling about New Zealand, leaving many friends vowing to come back again.

The timebank is of great value to our Selwyn community and deserves to be well-known and used. It has much potential to help anyone in general areas as well as in specific and unexpected ways. I experienced it myself when I needed heaps of spray-free lemons for juicing. I spread the word on the timebank website and two ladies responded quickly. One evening I met a lovely couple at their home who picked lots of lemons from their tree. All added with gifts from various people I was able to complete an eight-week internal cleanse.
Another time I donated egg cartons for a lady asking for them. So the timebank is also great for recycling and giving away such things that would have ended up in the recycling bin otherwise.