Colorado State University students’ creativity was challenged to create the best statue made entirely out of cans on Wednesday, Oct. 5 at the Lory Student Center Plaza. The challenge was part of Canstruction, an annual competition where students, community members and faculty bring canned foods for the Cans Around the Oval fundraiser and create sculptures.
People and student groups who participated in Canstruction received points that will add to the overall food drive points they may receive from Cans Around the Oval. The office for Student Leadership Involvement and Community Engagement merchandise and trophies are given out to competition winners.
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According to the SLiCE website, Canstruction’s purpose is to help raise awareness about hunger, raise food and money donations.
Claire Andrues, senior liberal arts major and student coordinator, has been involved with Canstruction and Cans Around the Oval for three years.
“Canstruction is a visual way to see food insecurity in our community,” Andrues said. “It shows that the food drive is happening.”
Canstruction happens at CSU in order for students to get involved and engage in the food drive, Andrues said.
This year some of the statues that were made from the cans were a canned robot, the ‘A’, Hughes Stadium and part of the new stadium that is in progress, the two towers on CSU’s campus (Westfall Hall and Durward Hall), the CSU ram logo, CSU’s mascot Cam and a football just to name a few.
The cans that are used in Canstruction and collected from Cans Around the Oval are donated to the Larimer County Food Bank.
The Larmier County Food Bank provides food to nearly 36,000 people every year.
“Our mission is to provide food to all in need through community partnerships and hunger-relief programs,” according to the food bank’s website.
Last year, the food drive collected 60,364 pounds of food and $57,030, according to the Cans Around the Oval website. Every dollar donated equals five pounds of food meaning that the food and money collected are combined to equal 345,514 pounds of food donated in the Cans Around the Oval food drive in 2015.
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The CSU and overall winner of the food drive in 2015 was the College of Business with 57,555 pounds of food. Outside of CSU, Rocky Mountain High School came in first in community schools category and second overall with 37,138 pounds of food donated in the drive.
SLiCE has coordinated the event every year for 30 years.
Alyssa Smith, a member of the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma, participated in Canstruction for the first time. Smith said she decided to participate this year to get involved in homecoming and help Cans Around the Oval.
“Canstruction is really important to me,” Smith said. “We worked really hard to contribute and earn cans.”
