A Little Time Bank History

It was in late 1995 that Richard Rockefeller (the founder of Portland Time Bank) first heard Dr. Edgar Cahn speak about Time Dollars. Up to that point, most of Richard's philanthropic dollars had supported environmental issues.

After hearing Edgar speak, Richard says a light went on - a sudden realization that we can't expect people to take care of our environment, if we're not first taking care of each other.

He felt compelled to bring the concept of Time Banking to Maine and began to share his vision in 1996. In 1997, Maine hosted an International Time Dollar Congress in cooperation with Dr. Edgar Cahn (Founder of Time Dollars), bringing together 40 Time Banks from all over the world. For many, it was the first opportunity to share experiences about their programs and learn from others.

For Portland Time Bank, the Congress inspired new vision and direction. Our very committed, and visionary, Board of Directors decided it was time to grow a local (model) Time Bank and Portland Time Bank was born, formerly known as Maine Time Dollar Network.