Comment by Chad Mosesso on August 23, 2011 at 4:21pm

YES! I'm so happy this had become a group.

After seeing how gift circles can build friendships and build community over longer distances around Peaceburgh, I'd like to see individual communities take on the gift circle concept and see what can happen when people living in close proximity with similar issues get together and create a gift economy.

Comment by Justin Thakar on August 23, 2011 at 11:06pm

Would like to see the original concept spread far and wide, with some minor tweaks--

• Time = too long! Enforce speaking times (i.e. <2 min) for conciseness and pointedness! 3 hrs = too much for some.
• Halve or quarter bigger groups for maximum connectivity voltage?
• Make sure wants/offerings lists from smaller groups get online! Perhaps post here? Or, better, use Who's Your Brother?

Comment by Elisa Beck on August 25, 2011 at 7:56am

The next meeting of Sustainable Monroeville is Monday evening, September 12 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the Monroeville Public Library. We are still courting speakers, hopefully we will have folks talking/showing and telling about stormwater management, but it will be awesome to add a gift circle as part of the program. Everyone in the Pittsburgh Community is invited! Share this invitation! Join Sustainable Monroeville on Facebook and go to www.sustainablemonroeville.com for more details. I'll post more details once I firm up the other part of the program.

Comment by Chad Mosesso on August 25, 2011 at 5:21pm

That's awesome to hear Elisa.  I would definitely like to help out in any way I can bring the gift circle to Monroeville.

 

As "Phase 2" commences, I really see gift circles being introduced and implemented in numerous communities around the city.  So let us start gift circles in our own communities, as well as finding/empowering people in other communities to start their own.

 

I am willing to share my knowledge of how a gift circle works to anyone who has questions.  Here are some resources:

 

http://www.realitysandwich.com/circle_gifts

http://trustcurrency.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-start-gift-circle....

http://2020climatecampaign.org/content/practice-and-theory-gift-cir...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnCSFUB3B6U&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUPZvU1y_v0&feature=related

 

Comment by Elisa Beck on August 25, 2011 at 11:33pm

Thanks Chad. Please let folks know about the gift circle. Would you like to facilitate the gift circle on September 12 at the Sustainable Monroeville meeting?

Comment by Chad Mosesso on August 26, 2011 at 12:19am

Yes Elisa, I would love to facilitate the gift circle- Thank you for the opportunity.  And perhaps someone (or many) in the group would like to learn how to facilitate events in the future, in which case I would love to guide them through the process.  I think it would be great if the gift circle can become a locally sustained, on-going event in the community.

Comment by Elisa Beck on August 26, 2011 at 7:48am

Great, Thanks so much! I'll be in touch with you in the middle of next week

to do some more planning.

 

Comment by Rosemary McMullen on August 28, 2011 at 11:32am

Elisa, I am concerned about time constraints.  Gift Circles often take three hours.  We aim to speed things up by making the circles smaller and keeping a better watch on each person's speaking time. Just keep that in mind since you scheduled an hour and a half at the library and were planning on addressing the issue of storm water too.  In lieu of actually holding a Gift Circle, maybe Chad could brief the group on how they work and get names of folks who would like to join one at a time and place to be scheduled in the near future?

Comment by Susan Richter on August 29, 2011 at 11:44am

I think that is a great idea, Rosemary. Then the next meeting can be devoted to actually holding one. I agree with enforcing the time constraints! Have a timer, calculate how many people, how many minutes and it should add up nicely if everyone sticks to it! My feeling at the end of the last one was "UGH, I am not sure I would like to go to the next one, this was great, but so long!!!"

Comment by Chad Mosesso on August 29, 2011 at 3:12pm

I agree Susan.  I do feel that one beautiful thing about this concept is that it is a very open system and  can be adopted by a group/community and made their own.  For example, one form of the gift circle could be a longer, more intimate affair with a potluck, with folks devoting their night to the event...like a social event. However, for bridging communities, I do see a need for keeping a close watch on time.  Folks may not want to give their entire evening to an idea they have just heard about, but may be much more likely to attend an event if it is only an hour or two.

 

When I talked with the Green team from Larimer at the Kingsley Association, one question that arose was how to get people to the gift circle i.e how to market it so people come.  Word of mouth, facebook and e-mail are good methods, but what about communities that don't have those connections?

 

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