When a family first comes to Abriendo Puertas for an assessment of services needed, the child s family is informed about the Time Dollar group and asked if it is interested in joining. If the answer is yes, then the family is at that point asked to identify what it would like to offer. The Time Dollar members contribute help and services to the Abriendo Puertas program, other community agencies, and to the other families who belong to the program.
Families decide for themselves what they can and want to do.
The Time Dollar Program began in 1998. It started by obtaining food items from the Daily Bread Food Bank. Time Dollar volunteers picked up, sorted, bagged and distributed the food to families in East Little Havana. In the second half of 2000, volunteers from Abriendo Puertas used their time dollars to purchase nearly 12,000 pounds of food for themselves and their neighbors, providing food to 502 families. The Time Dollar program has also provided food for 51 family activities and 35 children's activities in Abriendo Puertas' Family Center, and for 154 emergency situations.