On Sept. 11, 2001, two things happened. A Carrboro activist stapled an organizational meeting flier to a bulletin board in Chapel Hill to begin the creation of a new local currency. And as she was doing so she heard that a plane had flown into an office tower in New York City.

9/11 was an auspicious start to a brave new undertaking that was the NC PLENTY, an acronym for Piedmont Local Economy Tender.

At its outset the PLENTY was based on the Ithaca Hour, a famous local currency from upstate New York. And the idea was simple. By using local currency, which would only be accepted by local merchants, monetary circulation would stay in the local economy and everyone would be enriched.

Cornell University did a study on Ithaca's economy and found this to be the case.

So all that was required was to build a network of merchants that would accept PLENTYs, provide the public with some monetary literacy, and bingo, a local currency would be born.

Amazingly enough that happened.

Volunteers worked at tabling events, volunteers trained cashiers, businesses enrolled, beautiful banknotes were printed, and the PLENTY went from being a concept to reality.

Down in our neck of the woods it spread like wild fire. At the time I was selling metal sculptures. A bunch of studio artists started accepting PLENTYs. That spilled over to BLAST Internet, a local Internet Service Provider who started accepting them for Internet service, which spilled over into Piedmont Biofuels, who started accepting them for fuel.

When Chatham Marketplace opened, accepting PLENTYs was obvious, since there were a bunch of customers around Pittsboro who routinely had them in their pockets.

People started accepting PLENTYs for pay, since they could be used to buy food, and fuel, and Internet, and lunch at the General Store Cafe. The original vision took hold in Pittsboro. People accepted the local currency because they could spend the local currency-which is all money is good for at the end of the day.

But as the PLENTY became commonplace in our wallets and purses, the organization behind it began to run out of steam. Founders left the Board of Directors. Volunteers quit. The Web site stopped working. E-mails stopped being returned. New members had no way to join. And the perception was that the PLENTY was dead.

Which was incorrect. The currency lived on. People fall in love, grow tired, go back to school, move away -- but the PLENTY lived on.

I wrote a book about our local economy. In a chapter entitled "Financing Ourselves," I talked about Capital Bank in Pittsboro that was locally owned.

"Small is Possible" sold well around town. After all, it is stories about us. Enthusiastic readers started opening accounts at Capital Bank, causing the bank to inquire, "What is this book we keep hearing about?" I took them a copy.

Next thing I knew the founder of the bank needed a bunch of books. After which I visited his wife's book club. I became the accidental darling of Capital Bank.

At which B.J. Lawson came across the book. He was running for Congress. He is a student of monetary theory and is intrigued by local economy.

We are an odd pair. We are on such opposite ends of the political spectrum we find our ideas aligned.

One day at lunch the idea of breathing new life into the PLENTY came up. Matt explained how he was paying his staff with PLENTYs. Leif said we would join the board and help out. I thought I might be able to get Capital Bank interested. We all went out and did what we could and viola -- "Local Bank Exchanges Local Currency" became international news.

Suddenly Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller was on FOX TV. CNN came to town twice. And Russian television, and Polish TV. Poor Mary at Chatham Marketplace spends most of her time on camera these days.

The PLENTY revitalization is under way. The currency lives, in the spirit of its founders, as a tool to strengthen the local economy. New businesses are signing up every day.

The PLENTY is backed by trust. The same thing that backs Federal Reserve notes. The only reason to accept either one is because it can be used to acquire the things you need.

But unlike U.S. dollars, no one in China accepts PLENTYs, which means they will tend to stick around, and circulate here, amongst ourselves. Most of the local merchants I know could stand a little more business about now.

Lyle Estill lives in Chatham County. Contact him at lyle@blast.com