Annual CANstruction event draws record number of teams

Lauren Takores, The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
·2 min read

Apr. 11—At this weekend's 14th annual CANstruction event, hosted by SUNY Oneonta, 11 teams of students and community members are slated to compete to build structures using donated cans of food, with the goal of reaching 8,000 pounds of donations.

The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 13 throughout the Southside Mall in Oneonta. Judging and trophy presentations is slated for 4 p.m.

Since 2010, SUNY Oneonta CANstruction events have donated more than 45,000 pounds of canned foods to donate, according to information from the university.

This year, Otsego County Hunger Coalition will distribute the donations to 22 food pantries throughout Otsego County.

Participants include Hannaford Grocery, SUNY Oneonta Sigma Gamma Phi, SUNY Oneonta Curtis/Higgins Hall, SUNY Oneonta's Sodexo, SUNY Oneonta Athletes, SUNY Oneonta Pi Celta Chi, SUNY Oneonta Food and Nutrition Association & Nutrition for Performance, Oneonta World of Learning, Job Corps, Visions Federal Credit Union and Ninash Foundation.

This year's judges are Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek and Otsego County Hunger Coalition President Maggie Johnson.

Each CANstruction team is responsible for obtaining through purchase or donation their own cans to build their structure.

CANstruction team creations will be in the mall for a week after the competition for the community to view.

"The CANstruction event is a great time for the public to bring canned good donations to the mall all week," said Linda Drake, SUNY Oneonta's Center for Volunteerism and Community Engagement. "While the donations may not be used for the structures, they will definitely be shared with local food pantries."

This year's event brought out the highest participation rate ever, Drake said.

"The CANstruction Oneonta event just keeps growing," she said.

Structure ideas are limitless.

"The teams surprise us with their creativity and ingenuity each year," Drake said. "Team members carefully plan out their structure in advance to use the number of canned goods and color labels necessary to create their structure vision."

There is no can limit. Teams are permitted to use as many cans as the team wants to create the structure of their choice.

The teams do follow a rule book, which states that structures cannot be larger than 8 feet by 10 feet.

The record for the most cans used in a CANstruction structure is 2,300.

For more information, contact Drake at 607-436-2633.