Jericho, NY Canstruction Long Island held its 12th Annual Design/Build competition where 10 teams comprised of professionals from the architecture, engineering and construction industry, as well as local students, competed to make sculptures out of canned food to help feed the region’s hungry. The buildout took place on Wednesday, October 24, and the awards reception was held on Thursday, October 25. 

Since 2007, the participants of Canstruction Long Island have donated over 480,000 cans of food, yielding approximately 320,000 meals, and $40,000 to help feed the hungry on Long Island.

Jurors for this year’s competition included Paul Anthony, comedian and executive producer of the Long Island Comedy; James Acunto ASID NCIDQ, president, Innersite, Inc.; Carolyn Shah Moehringer, PE, president, CSM Engineering, P.C.; and Rob Petrone, host and executive producer of Restaurant Hunter on FiOS, who featured Canstruction Long Island on FiOS’s special, “Fighting Hunger Together.” 

The winning structures for Canstruction Long Island 2018 are:

Professional Teams

• Best Design: “TWEET to Eat Away Hunger,” Combined Resources Consulting & Design, Inc.

• Best Use of Labels: “Ralph is at it! Hunger – Wreck It!,” Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.

• Structural Ingenuity: “As We Live….A Life of Ease….Everyone of Us….Has All We Need,” H2M architects + engineers.

• Best Meal: “We Can Wreck Hunger,” Rosenbaum Design Group Architecture.

• Most Cans: (9,092 cans + 1,100 gourmet lollipops) “Wipe Out Hunger,” Nassau Community College Interior Design Students/Interior Design Society.

Other Participants

• “Migo Every Smallfoot CAN Make a Difference,” Nelson & Pope/Waldner’s Business Environments.

• “LinCAN Logs: Putting a Notch in Hunger,” William F. Collins Architects.

Student Teams

• Best Cancept (Best Use of Labels): “The Key to Ending Hunger,” East Rockaway High School.

• Best Canfiguration (Structural Ingenuity): “A Wish CAN End Hunge,r” Sacred Heart Academy.

• Most Cantastic (Best Meal):  “The Very Hungry CANterpillar,” SORTY: Temple Sinai of Roslyn Youth Group.

“The creativity of the 10 teams this year exceeded expectations,” said Tracy Lobdell, executive director, Canstruction Long Island, Inc. “This amazing array of imaginative structures demonstrates the dedication of the A/E/C industry and area students to help end hunger on Long Island.” 

At the close of the exhibit, all of the structures are disassembled and the cans are donated to The Interfaith Nutrition Network (INN), Island Harvest Food Bank, Long Island Cares, Inc., The Harry Chapin Food Bank and The NEST at Nassau Community College for distribution to food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, group homes, day treatment facilities, senior nutrition sites and day care centers in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Additional information and photos of these incredible sculptures can be found at www.canstructionli.org.

Canstruction Long Island, Inc., a Long Island-based 501 (c)(3), is using “one can” as a catalyst for change, “one can” to represent the building blocks of these massive sculptures, “one can” to prove that every act of kindness makes a difference. Through the generosity of volunteers, celebrity judges, and members of the community, Canstruction competitions around the world have contributed millions of pounds of food to community food banks demonstrating that we can win the fight against hunger. Since 2007, the participants of Canstruction Long Island have donated over 480,000 cans of food, yielding approximately 320,000 meals, and $40,000 to help feed the hungry on Long Island.