Contributed by Tim Z

I hate waste, so I started a used building materials store in the Valley.

It’s called Matsu Valley Rebuild, it’s in Wasilla and has over 5000 square feet of space. It’s a donation-based store; not affiliated with any other group and not owned by anyone. The operation is overseen by a board of directors and MVR is driven to be a powerful community resource. Our mission is to keep useful building materials out of the landfill by creating a resource to which people and businesses can donate useful materials that they want to get rid of, but do not wish to waste. We sell these items at 30%-60% of retail prices, proceeds are reinvested into the store.

MVR aims to make the Valley a better place; for you, for our neighbors, for the businesses here and for the economy. We want to redesign our waste stream, bolster our building materials market, inspire creativity and motivation in our neighbors and save people money!

MVR opened in March of 2019 and after we filled our original space in Palmer we moved to Wasilla in September of 2020. Since then we have continued to grow and now it means we have had to turn items away, solely do to a lack of space.

Over the last year the “disruption” in the building materials supply chain has shown us how subservient we are to the retail price of building supplies. The Valley is growing fast. New construction, remodels, cabin projects and tiny houses are going up everywhere. All that building has leftover materials as well as materials taken out after being replaced, what is happening to that stuff?

Sure, some of it gets saved, some gets sold or given away to friends, some gets passed along online or in the neighborhood…but way too much of it is getting burned, buried, left to rot on the property or tossed in the landfill. So, while many people were trying to build and prices were rising others were discarding building materials as worthless. The big box building supply stores set multiple sales records during the highest points of material costs in the last year. People burned, buried and tossed items their Valley neighbors needed while corporations did so well. Why? How do we change that?

We work together and utilize the resources available.

Matsu Valley Rebuild is one of these resources but we need your help. We need people that are in the market for building materials to come check out the store, take advantage of our great deals and help make some room for more donations. We also want you to help us keep useful building materials available to our Valley neighbors. This could mean donating them to MVR, but we are not the only option. Selling or giving things away online through CL or FB works, donating appropriate items to traditional thrift stores is an option, as is the “free” sign out in front of your house. MVR is not in competition with anyone, we just want to keep useful stuff out of the landfill.

This not only helps our neighbors, our friends and our economy, it also helps insulate us from the ebb and flow of the retail economy and helps people that might not be able to afford the retail route. It also creates an opportunity for so many unique and awesome items to be reused and repurposed.

MVR wants to be a part of this and do what we can to inspire and motivate people to get involved. Right now we only offer the donation and sales of items but we have big plans for the future. We will offer a pick up service, a deconstruction service, we want to hold small workshops and classes on basic building projects, develop a tool library and even fix-it events. These events team local experts with people that have items and tools that need to be repaired, things get fixed, people learn how and stuff stays out of the landfill!

Right now the store is busy and a bit overwhelmed. We are looking for volunteers, someone who cares about our mission and wants to help make a difference, someone to help with donation intake, cleaning, organizing, putting items away and more. We are looking for someone who could come in regularly to gain a little familiarity with the operation. There is some heavy lifting required, some creativity is helpful and a tolerance for cleaning and patience are also necessary.

Matsu Valley Rebuild wants to be part of the solution but we can’t do it alone. We need your help. We can’t do pickups yet, so we need you to bring your clean useful donations to us. We can’t deconstruct so we need you to take care in removal of items and materials. We can’t fit everything so we need you to utilize other options to pass things on. We also need you to tell your friends and family about MVR so we can move some inventory and make room for more…more useful building materials!

Contractors and suppliers; we need you to get on board too! Yes, time is money but so are useful building materials. Surely you care about our Valley neighbors and those who can utilize the things you remove during remodels and have leftover following a build...? As a community we all have some responsibility in this and we all can benefit when we help our Valley neighbors. Will you do your part?

Thank you for your support,

Tim

Founder/President/Manager

Matsu Valley Rebuild