President Bill opened the meeting with 13 Rotarrians and one guest present.

Tom Babic offered a happy $2 bill for Ron Parnigoni’s birthday (today) and Tom’s own b’day (tomorrow).   To celebrate, he wore both his badge and Ron’s today.

President Bill updated the membership on the board of directors’ meeting that was held prior to lunch.   The board will provide leadership for the club in Rotary year 2014-15 with current board members taking turns as weekly meeting chair, as there is no president in line for 2014-15.   Jim Catone will set up a duty roster for those board members.   The board will meet in May to go over the club’s financial status and work up a proposed budget for the coming year.   The current board members (at least those present) agreed to continue in their current positions for the year ahead.

Dick S. offered a happy dollar for the concert this past weekend at the Opera House, featuring pianist John O’Conor.   Dick said it was a wonderful performance.

Today’s program dealt with the Onion River Exchange Time Bank, with Outreach Coordinator Heather Kralik giving the presentation.

Heather is a former librarian at Barre Town School who departed three years ago to work for the Onion River Exchange.  The Exchange is a time bank that exchanges skills, talents, and services using time instead of money.   As an example, someone may spend two hours stacking wood for an exchange member.  This gives the individual doing the work two hours community credit in the exchange, which he/she could then exchange for some skill or service that another member possesses (snow shoveling or preparing a meal as examples).

The exchange was created to save money, learn new skills, meet new people, feel connected and helpful to the community, and to support a complimentary economy.  There are over 600 members in 28 participating towns within a 30 mile radius of Montpelier.   The members provide over 664 different services.  Some other examples of exchanges pointed out by Kralik are rides, pet sitting, home repairs, piano lessons, painting, bookkeeping, or child care to name a few.

In addition to individual members, there are also many businesses and organizations that have chosen to participate in the Exchange, such as Capitol Grounds, the Barre and Montpelier Senior Centers, and the Vermont Council on Aging.  Individual members pay $25-$50 annually, while organizations or households pay $40-$75 annually.

The Onion River Exchange web site can be found at www.orexchange.org.   Their e-mail address is info@orexchange.org and phone number is 552-3040.

Sue P. pulled the winning raffle ticket, belonging to Ted G. who graciously donated his winnings back to the club.