Don't Take Any Wooden Nickels.

That’s what children were told way back when they were old enough to leave home and face the world on their own. That was around 100 years ago. They were teenagers at the time. Most likely the girls were trained to cook and clean and the boys were trained to build and farm. Both girls and boys knew how to work with their hands. Often they would move to nearby cities because that is where the jobs were available. Parents and relatives of the children knew the young people’s move to a city would be a challenge. They worried that they would not be paid for their work. Friends would say jokingly to the young people, “Don’t take any wooden nickels.”
That was between 1910 and 1920. In 1929 something horrible happened in the United States, it really happened to the whole world. The money supply fell apart. People lost their jobs. Business people lost their businesses. Farmers struggled with their farms. People had to make a living doing anything, anywhere they could. Blaine had an unusual answer. Make their own money. There was a woodworker in town that could do that. But making the wooden nickel did not mean it would have any value until it was signed. It was like a check. A check does not have any value unless signed by the right person.
So what’s the point? One is, you are living in a town that when faced with tough times stuck together to solve a problem. You can be proud of that and you can learn from that.

Now you can read the adult version of the Blaine, Washington’s Wooden Nickel.