Tai Tokerau Timebank
Our Story
Origins
Our origins are in Kaitāia TimeBank which was established by Transition Towns Kaitāia in 2009 as a result of some members attending a Living Economies seminar at The Quaker Settlement in Whanganui, where they were inspired by a presentation from Lyttleton Timebank.
Having stepped in as a Timebank to help keep the Kaitāia EcoCentre open around 2015 when they were between major grants, it seemed an obvious step for KTB to become adopted as an official programme of Te Pōkapu Tiaki Taiao O Te Tai Tokerau Trust who ran the centre. This enabled grant applications to be made to fund the Timebank.
It was run entirely by volunteers until we got our first coordinator funding in 2018. At that point 10 hours a week was funded.
Growing
Mid 2019 KTB enveloped Whangaroa Timebank and Far North Timebank at their request to create Tai Tokerau Timebank which covered from Cape Reinga to around Whāngārei.
This was marked by a re-launch/10th birthday celebration in September and we introduced our current logo and colour scheme.
Our membership grew both geographically and numerically, and we expanded into Kaipara in 2021, thus truly becoming a Timebank for the whole of te Tai Tokerau.
Now...
We now have two Regional Coordinators, based in Kaitāia, and a team of Local Coordinators scattered across the rohe each with their own geographical area of responsibility. Although paid, everyone is still very part time, with around 70 hours a week shared between a team of 8, but this way we can have Local Coordinators working within their own communities rather than from a great distance.