To bring back the economy, Fournier needed to act. "We were talking about grants for business, microloans, trying to team up with a bunch of different banks," he tells The Hustle. "The big concern was, 'How do we directly help families and individuals?'"

And then it hit him: "Why not start our own currency?"

The plan came together fast. Fournier decided that Tenino would set aside $10k to give out to low-income residents hurt by the pandemic. But instead of using federal dollars, he'd print the money on thin sheets of wood designed exclusively for use in Tenino. His mint? A 130-year-old newspaper printer from a local museum.

Fournier's central idea is pulled straight from Tenino's own history. During the Great Depression, the city printed sets of wooden dollars using that exact same 1890 newspaper printer. Within a year, the wooden currency had helped bring the economy back from the dead.

By reinstating the old currency now, Fournier has accidentally become part of a much bigger movement. With businesses worried about keeping the lights on and people scrambling to find spending money, communities have struggled to keep their local economies afloat.

So they've revived an old strategy: When in doubt, print your own money.

Today, these so-called "local currencies" might help small communities recover from the economic fallout of COVID-19.

Tenino's wooden dollars are different from many local currencies in that it is temporary: The money will lose its value soon after the town declares an end to its COVID-19 state of emergency.

While the Tenino project might be less ambitious than some of its counterparts, that doesn't mean its benefits won't be felt. Fournier says he's approved at least half a dozen applications for the wooden currency so far and has another dozen to review.

It's too soon to know exactly what the project will bring. But on a recent Thursday, Fournier sounded optimistic. The money has started trickling into local stores, and many businesses are posting photos of the currency to Facebook.

The project has driven enough local excitement that the Tenino Chamber of Commerce is interested in making the wooden dollars a permanent fixture of Tenino - even after the pandemic passes.

"We'll run out this program," Fournier says, "and then we'll look into having our own city currency."

To read the complete article, see:
Why a small town in Washington is printing its own currency during the pandemic(https://thehustle.co/covid19-local-currency-tenino-washington/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
TENINO REVIVES WOODEN MONEY(https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n19a35.html)