Your money is no good at the Timebank Store, and your time is only as valuable as anyone else's.

Opening Friday in an Allied Drive apartment, the store is the first of its kind in Wisconsin. The only currency accepted is hours banked by members of the Dane County Timebank helping other members, which can include child care, car repair, yard work, guitar lessons and more.

"Everybody's equal, whether you're doing tax returns or legal work or scrubbing a kitchen floor," said Gary Messinger, who helps coordinate the Dane County Timebank, 2120 Fordem Ave.

Part of an international service exchange program with Timebanks in 100 communities, the Madison-based organization counts 890 members, about 40 of whom live in the Allied Drive neighborhood and stand to benefit most from the store.

"We're here to show the assets in the community," Messinger said.

The assets include people like Priscilla Whitt, who has lived in the area 20 years and said, "We work. We pay taxes. Sometimes we don't have enough to pay for our daily necessities."

She and neighbor Maxine Bryant were earning Timebank hours Monday at the store, sorting and pricing donations, such as four books for one hour.

Bryant is one of the "Allied Allies," a group recruiting new Timebank members from the neighborhood and shaping the way the store functions.

"I'm looking to get them back on the job, because you must do something to get time dollars," Bryant said, referring to neighbors who are unemployed. "Now since we have a store where they can actually see things, that will motivate them."

What they'll see opening day ranges from toiletries to clothing, books, games, toys, small appliances, dishes, towels and more.

While most of the stock is donated by individuals and businesses, an anonymous donor gave the Timebank Store $2,000 to spend on nonperishables from the Yahara River Grocery Coop, Stoughton, which needed a sales boost.

The Dane County Timebank also will be looking for donations toward a new store site, since its no-cost month-to-month Allied Drive apartment lease will end when the city tears it down as part of a redevelopment project in about a year.

Alice Howard, president of the Allied Dunn's Marsh Neighborhood Association, said her hope is that the store will help unify the neighborhood through activities such as community breakfasts.

"The store isn't the end all and be all," added Timebank director Stephanie Rearick, who led a group on a trip to St. Louis, which is close to opening its seventh such store.

What they learned is that stores can range from closet size on up, and, Rearick said, "Most people come for the first time because they need stuff but return later for connections in the neighborhood and community."