So the water heater goes on the fritz, but water heater replacement cost are out my budget to pay a plumber. What now? A call to the newly-formed Sedona TimeBank just might solve the problem.

“It’s a ‘pay it forward’ type of thing. You bank your time instead of money, then when you need some kind of service you can pull out some of the time you banked,” Sedona TimeBank Director and Coordinator Christine Bryson-Lazo said. “People swap skills.”

People who contribute their time and talent as members of the time bank earn time tokens. Everyone’s contribution is valued equally — hour for hour, regardless of monetary value.

For example, a lawyer who gives three hours of legal advice can use his time tokens to hire someone to his mother.

“It doesn’t necessarily need to be paid back to the same person — just give an equal amount of time somewhere, like helping a student with math,” Bryson-Lazo said. “It’s better than a barter system. Like at a bank, you can bank hours and withdraw them later, without any money involved.”

Many people may remember a time when helping each other out was done on a regular basis — watching someone’s children for a few hours, dropping off meals for an ailing neighbor or shoveling the elderly lady’s sidewalks after a snow. Time banking can restore lost connections through sharing skills, Bryson-Lazo said.

“We have a large number of people who do this type of thing, even without getting time tokens, because it’s the right thing to do,” she said.

The Sedona TimeBank is hooked into TimeBanks USA, and it is based on five core values: assets, work, reciprocity, community and respect.

About 2½ years ago a grant came across Sedona Community Center’s Executive Director Sue Barrington’s desk from Temple University. She read it because her father was a dean there. She applied and won the grant for $200,000 to be paid over five years.

“We’re one of 25 communities in the country dedicated as a community for all ages. The cornerstones are intergenerational programming and interagency cooperation. We try hard to do all of that,” Barrington said.

The community center attains an intergenerational component through partnerships with Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northern Arizona, the Sedona Teen Center and Sedona Charter School.

During the first year of the grant, a community assessment was performed. One of the driving forces was a 2007 city survey in which two items caught Barrington’s interest: Most respondents think Sedona is a wonderful place to retire, but many think Sedona lacks a sense of community.

“It seemed very apparent to us Sedona needed a sense of community. We built a strategy to bring that percentage up. The first thing was to form the Sedona TimeBank,” Barrington said. “It seemed like a perfect way to bring community together.”

The time bank is not just for individuals. Organizations of all types can become a part of the program. One function of the time bank is to have regularly scheduled events, monthly potlucks and other activities, so it is also a social structure, Barrington said.

“One facet of a time bank is for people to get together,” she said.

The time bank also makes it a lot easier for people to ask for help because they know they’ll do something for someone else.

“It gives them a feeling of empowerment,” Barrington said. “The time bank is a nice way to gain an extended family. That’s what this is all about.”

The time bank is about connecting people of all ages to create a supportive and sustainable community where needs are met, skills are learned and positive relationships are formed.

The Sedona TimeBank is taking on the theme of “Feeding Generations.” With the communal lunch and Meals on Wheels, it seemed a natural fit.

“It’s partly because this town in general is in denial we have hungry people living among us. People who help feed the hungry get double the time tokens,” Barrington said.

Joining the time bank requires an application and an approximately 45-minute orientation.

The program will kick off with a potluck Friday, Sept. 3, at 5 p.m. at the center, 2615 Melody Lane, at 5 p.m.

For more information about joining the Sedona TimeBank, call Bryson-Lazo at 300-8132.