I am pondering the benefit of belonging to a community exchange. You know, during the Great Depression, Tenino, WA survived by printing their own money and developing their own community exchange system. It can be read about here:

http://www.ci.tenino.wa.us/wooden_money.htm

If we are facing another financial hardship, wouldn’t a secondary system be a useful connection to have? I discovered this group out of Bellingham, WA called “Fourth Corner Exchange”

Their website states:

“Fourth Corner Exchange is a Sustainable Community Currency based in the Pacific Northwest USA, which operates throughout the USA and the world. Currently we have over six-hundred participating members, with branches in Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, California in the USA, Nova Scotia and British Columbia in Canada. Founded by Francis Ayley and a small group of friends in 2002, Fourth Corner Exchange formally started trading in January 2004. From those small beginnings we have grown to over six-hundred members, exchanging a large selection of goods & services throughout the Pacific Northwest, centered around Bellingham and Port Townsend.

Our vision:

A world of economic freedom and justice for all, where all communities have access to a fair and equitable universal medium of exchange, issued by the people in sufficiency to meet their own needs and the needs of their communities.

Our mission is to create this world of economic democracy by rebuilding our communities through teaching people how to use our community currency in a socially just and responsible manner.”

You can join the group for a yearly fee. “Local, alternative and community currencies replace the money drained away, allowing the people to continue trading the essentials of life.”

http://www.fourthcornerexchange.com/index.php

Does anyone out there have any experience with a Sustainable Community Currency? I am curious and would love to hear your story.