Barter group forming in PA, Sequim
By Diane Urbani de la Paz, Peninsula Daily News
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Say you're a hot cook who can whip up a week's worth of delicately seasoned dinners.
Your talents and needs make you a good candidate for an organization forming in Port Angeles and Sequim.
So far, it's simply called a bartering group.
Barbara Lott, is organizing the first meeting of the group, which will be at 6 p.m. today at The Salad Station, 1936 E. First St. at Golf Course Road in Port Angeles.
Lott is inspired by the Fourth Corner Exchange, a 600-member community that began in Bellingham in 2002.
Participants trade goods and services — while declaring themselves independent from money.
Port Townsend group
Lott learned about the Fourth Corner from a friend who invited her to the group's Port Townsend meeting earlier this year.
About a dozen members "sat around a table and shared what they had to offer, and what they were looking for," she said.
Among the wants and offers: firewood, gardening services, counseling, computer repair, sewing and home-cooked meals.
Lott has found plenty of interest in her home town.
There's a man whose passion is blacksmithing, and a woman who weeds.
That would be Lott, who loves to pull weeds whenever she's feeling stressed.
Lott could offer that service, as well as her foreign-language skills. She's fluent in German and Portuguese and "can get around" in Spanish and French.
Instead of charging a fee, she'd trade her time for a service or product provided by another member of the Fourth Corner.
Local economy
A community exchange group can fill other needs.
"It's a way to get to know and value your neighbors," Lott said.
When you can't afford to pay cash and you're loathe to rack up credit-card debt, the exchange gives you a different way to obtain a needed service.
"Local exchange systems are a means to keep money from draining out of the local economy," added Sid Maroney, a member of the Local Action for a Sustainable Economy, or LAST, group in Sequim (www.relocalize.net/groups/sequim).
Buy eggs from the supermarket and your money goes to the corporation, Maroney added — or get them from a local farmer in exchange for, say, a home repair.
You're spending "time dollars," to strengthen the local economy, Maroney said.
Port Townsend members of the Fourth Corner Exchange will be on hand at tonight's session to help Lott give an orientation to would-be new members.
Then they will discuss how to offer and search for goods and services on the exchange's Web site, www.FourthCornerExchange.com.
Members pay a $45 fee for Web management, Lott added.
The Clallam County barter group will meet next in Sequim, at 6:30 p.m. June 3 in the Sequim Library, 630 N. Sequim Ave.
"There's a way for everyone to participate in this," Lott said.
A retired woman who knits, a disabled man who teaches computer skills, a teenager who provides child care: The exchange needs them and more.
Lott welcomes inquiries about the budding barter group at blott@olypen.com or 360-417-1613.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: May 11. 2008 9:00PM