Do you have what it takes to design and build a 10-foot tall structure out of canned food? - by Tracy Lobdell

Tracy Lobdell, Canstruction Long Island

Canstruction Long Island has a few openings left for teams looking to participate in their 10^th Annual Design/Build Competition to fight hunger on Long Island. Registration is open until August 26^th, but building sites are going fast – nine Teams have already registered for the event!

The competition is open to firms in the fields of real estate, architecture, engineering, design, construction & development and all vendors who support those firms. Additionally, colleges, middle and high schools and community groups are invited to participate.

Teams design their structure, secure the appropriate canned food items needed to build the structure, and then have 12 hours to complete their build on October 26^th. The structures are judged in a variety of categories, such as Best Design, Best Use of Labels and Structural Ingenuity. The completed structures remain on exhibit to the public from October 28^th – November 13^th at RXR Plaza in Uniondale. Admission is free, but visitors are encouraged to bring canned food donations that they can use to vote for the People’s Choice award.

Canstruction-Care-A-Lot Can Bear

At the end of the exhibit, all canned food is donated to The Interfaith Nutrition Network, Island Harvest Food Bank, Long Island Cares, Inc./The Harry Chapin Food Bank, and the NEST at Nassau Community College to feed the hungry on Long Island.

Since 2007, Canstruction Long Island, Inc. has donated over 330,000 cans of food yielding more than 213,000 meals to feed hungry Long Islanders.

Canstruction is a very unique food drive which allows participants to give back to the community while they showcase their talent and creativity, foster teamwork within their firms, and have a lot of fun!

For information on forming a team, please contact [email protected]. For information on sponsoring the event, please contact [email protected]. To learn more, please visit www.canstructionli.org

Tracy Lobdell is the executive director, Canstruction Long Island, Uniondale, N.Y.