Ithaca Blog

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Free Local Money For You From Ithaca Hours, Wed. 29 Oct.

Ten dollars gets you forty's worth at the annual membership meeting of Ithaca Hours, the local currency system, on Wednesday 29 Oct., 6:30 - 8 p.m., in the Borg-Warner Room of the Public Library.

New and renewing members pay ten dollars (or its equivalent, one Ithaca Hour). For this annual fee, members recieve a listing in the on-line Hours Directory, and four Ithaca Hours, worth $40.

The Hours Directory lists businesses and individuals with goods and services to offer for some combination of dollars and Hours.

Ithaca Hours, started in 1991, is a local currency - in denominations, like U.S. currency - which stimulates trade for local businesses, helps moonlighters profit from their work, and keeps money in the local economy.

There are over $100,000 in Hours in circulation, and a membership base in the hundreds, from craftspeople, massage therapists, bookkeepers, and manual laborers, to food stores, book stores, and a credit union.

At a time of vanishing dollars, local currency provides a stimulus package for working people and small businesses - a system serving and controlled by local people, with with no downturns nor bailouts in sight.

For more information, see Hours' website, http://www.ithacahours.org/.

Stephen Burke
for Ithaca Blog

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