Macedon Ranges community exchange is being relaunched with a series of workshops on the weekend to explain what the exchange is and how it can help improve your life.
The offers and needs workshops bring people together to explore what things you can offer with your time, skills and resources and to discover what other people are offering that you might need.
It offers a structure for people to be able to trade their offers and needs for a unit of currency. Facilitator Samantha Wittenberg said it is a vibrant village level person-to-person economy.
“We all have passions, resources, skills, services, knowledge and opportunities that we can share with others,” she said.
“We all have things we need. When we get together with the intention to strengthen our community, we make visible the invisible gifts of everyone.”
The workshops are a two-hour, guided process where people meet to identify and exchange passions, knowledge, skills, resources, opportunities, and needs.
From finding a place to live, to sharing a recipe, or engaging a professional service or a tutor, the community exchanges are connected Australia wide.
A market will be run after the workshops where people can bring along items to trade or let people know about the things they have on offer.
Lancefield Neighbourhood House coordinator Vivien Philpotts said the idea to restart the exchange was born in a meeting a few years ago.
“Several years ago, in a meeting of the coordinators of the Macedon Ranges neighbourhood
houses, we agreed that reviving the community exchange was probably the… most important thing we could do for our communities,” she said.
“This was further reiterated with COVID and how people can come together in a community to try and make sure everyone’s needs are met.”
The workshops will run on November 11 and 12, with Saturday being held at the Woodend Neighbourhood House and on Sunday at Castlemaine Community Centre. Gold Coin donation is required at the door.
Details: mrce.net.au or 0490 501 671.
