Reuse is an Answer Minnesota Materials Exchange Catalog cover, Issue 2 - 2002 Andrew Urch frequently checks the Materials Exchange Web site looking for supplies for Common Hope projects in Guatemala. Computers from a business are now used in a school. A florist's cooler will be used to preserve medicine that requires refrigeration. the riddle What do an accounting firm, an airport commission, a florist and a university all have in common? the answer The Minnesota Materials Exchange online database and Common Hope's Andrew Urch. Andrew is warehouse manager for Common Hope, a nonprofit organization based out of St. Paul. Common Hope helps impoverished Guatemalan children and their families by providing education, health care, housing and family outreach services. It works with over 2,000 families in Guatemala. In order to keep the organization's overhead cost to a minimum, Andrew solicits donations and tries to find supplies available for free. "Using the Minnesota Materials Exchange helps us continue with the limited funds we do have," said Andrew. "I check the Web site every day if I have time. New things are posted regularly," explained Andrew. He has helped Common Hope obtain a telephone system, a two-door cooler, computers and a vacuum cleaner by contacting the diverse businesses that list items on the Minnesota Materials Exchange online database. An architectural firm posted an "available listing" for a photocopier to the online database. "I called the same day the listing appeared. I was able to get the photocopier the next day. I shipped it to Guatemala the next week," said Andrew. The photocopier is being used in the school in New Hope Village, a community that Common Hope helped establish after mud slides caused by Hurricane Mitch destroyed many people's homes outside of Guatemala City in 1998. "What's worked well for me is to check periodically to see what's new. I check to see the newest listings by searching for listings in the last week. It doesn't even take five minutes. If I haven't been on in awhile, I'll browse the listings."