Mongo Went on a Road Trip (and Came Home Full of Ideas!)

By Mitch

Guess what, friends? Mongo has cousins! Lots of them!

From October 17 to 19, our Executive Director Mitch packed up and went to Greenville, South Carolina, for the third annual summit of the Southeast Creative Reuse Collective. Our friends at ReCraft Creative Reuse Center hosted it at their Greenville store. It was the biggest one yet, with 23 creative reuse organizations from all over the Southeast in one room. That’s a whole lot of scrappy people in one place!

If you’ve been to The Scrap Exchange, you already know what a creative reuse center does. We take in gently used art supplies and materials that might otherwise end up in a landfill. Then we pass them on at affordable prices to artists, teachers, families and anyone who wants to make something. Every one of these organizations does that same work in its own community, with its own personality.

The Collective started in 2024 to connect us all so we can share resources, trade ideas and cheer each other on. Each of us gets stronger, and together we spread creative reuse farther across the region.

Some folks at the summit called The Scrap Exchange the “OG.” We’ve been at this since 1991, which makes us a lot older (and a little bigger) than most of our cousins. Mongo will admit his chest puffed up a bit. But here’s the thing Mitch brought home: the OG still has plenty to learn. These organizations are smart, brave and wonderfully weird, and they’re trying many things we haven’t. Mitch came back inspired, energized and full of ideas to share with our team.

And the biggest treasure of the trip? Remembering that we’re not doing this alone. Each of us can keep plenty of stuff out of the landfill on our own, but we can do even more together. One scrap at a time, all across the Southeast!

So if you’re ever on a road trip, stop in and say hi to Mongo’s cousins:

• Art and Soul, Radford, VA

• Art Again, Winchester, VA

• Create Conway, Conway, SC

• Dabble Creative Reuse Center, Manassas, VA

• Reconsidered Goods, Greensboro, NC

• ReCraft Creative Reuse, Greenville, SC

• Remix It, Asheville, NC

• Scrap Collective, Roanoke, VA

• The Scrap Exchange, Durham, NC (hi, that’s us!)

• S.C.R.A.P., Spartanburg, SC

• Scraplanta, Atlanta, GA

• Second Life Supply, Charleston, SC

• Smart Art + Craft Supplies, Nashville, TN

• Starlandia, Savannah, GA

• Sunshine Creative Reuse, Brevard, NC

• The Art SHAC, Winston-Salem, NC

• The Crafty Crab, Wilmington, NC

• The Craft Room, Homewood, AL

• The Scrappy Elephant, Charlottesville, VA

• Upcycle Arts, Charlotte, NC

• Valley Creative Reuse, Harrisonburg, VA

• Waste Knot Orlando, Orlando, FL

• 757 Creative Reuse Center, Norfolk, VA

Thank you, ReCraft, for hosting, and thank you to every cousin who came. Mongo can’t wait for next year!