Streetbank News

Large strawberry jam

An attitude of gratitude

When we explain Streetbank to friends they often think of it as a swapping site. A place of I-scratch-your-back-you-scratch-mine. So when we say actually it is really about no strings attached help , they look surprised but usually say something along the lines of “so let me get this right, all you get is a warm feeling inside…. hmmm… I’m not sure it will work but that is nice”. Generally, though we hear that the receiver of the help is grateful and just occasionally does something grateful in response.

Like Sophie from Fulham. Sophie through Streetbank picked up a box of empty jam jars from Elizabeth, made some jam and as a thank you dropped off a jam jar full of delicious strawberry jam on her doorstep.

Is it reasonable to expect a thank you in response or does no strings mean no strings? Do you have any stories through Streetbank or otherwise of gratefulness?

Comments

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on November 10 2010 Steve & Krysia said:

We love the idea and ethos of this worhty site.-
It is better and nobler to give than receive.
It helps us overcome self-centeredness and is a real blessing for others.
In our developed and comfortable western society we have many things to be thankful for… in fact it reminds reminds of that old song … count your blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done!

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on October 17 2010 Hilary Murdoch said:

I love the fact that there are no strings attached and that it is genuinely free and generous… and there’s no need to feel you have to ‘pay back’… but it’s fun where there are opportunities for gratefulness…. I gave someone some home grown apples and they dropped me a voucher for 2 for 1 cinema tickets in my door…. and when i borrowed a fondue set from someone I then went round and spent a few hours with their little girls making a house with them for their dolls… that kind of thing does add to the feeling of making real connections… Love the jam story too…

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on September 22 2010 Kate said:

I wondered where the ‘Pay it forward’ phrase came from – lots of people use it on quilter blogs.

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on September 21 2010 Sara Nathan said:

Did you see that slightly mawkish film “Pay it Forward”? That concept – as an alternative to paying back or doing reciprical things seems critical to the streetbank raison d’etre: someone does something nice for you and you do something nice for someone else because you have a warm fuzzy feeling or just feel connected to society.

The film wasn’t very good though – the concept is better.