SMPS Canstruction Long Island competition yields 28,627 cans of food

Canstruction, a national charity committed to ending hunger, is using "one can" as a catalyst for change which was sponsored locally by the Long Island Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) under the auspices of the Society for Design Administration. Teams of design and construction industry professionals, led by architects and engineers, built 8 giant self-supporting structures out of 28,627 cans of food ultimately destined for the hungry on Long Island. The teams spent two months designing and testing their structures prior to the final build-out. Once completed, the eight structures were judged by a distinguished panel, including: comedian Paul Anthony; restaurateur Tom Schaudel; Long Island Pulse publisher Nada Marjanovich; and New York Islanders head coach Ted Nolan. Winners were declared in the following categories: * Structural Ingenuity - "Whale you help feed the hungry?" by The LiRo Group * Best Use of Labels - "Scaring hunger away" by H2M Group * Best Meal - "BeaCAN of hope in the fight against hunger" by the team of J. S. McHugh, Inc. and Sidney B. Bowne & Son, LLP * Honorable Mention - "Spongebob CANpants" by the team of Burton, Behrendt and Smith (BBS) Architects and Stalco Construction, Inc. * Juror's Favorite - "Scaring hunger away" by H2M Group Winners of the competition will go on to compete nationally in May of 2008. Additional entries included: * "iTune into the world" by Spector Group * "Shine the light on hunger" by RexCorp Realty * "Let's put the red light on hunger" by Eschbacher VHB * "Dessert hunger" by the team of EvensonBest, LLC and TPG Architecture. The structures were on display to the public from October 26 to November 4, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, with the price of admission being one can of food. At the close of the exhibition, the 28,627 cans used to create the sculptures along with all cans collected from the public were donated to Long Island Cares, Inc., the Harry Chapin Food Bank to help feed the hungry on Long Island. The Long Island Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS-LI), established in 2004, provides education, networking and business opportunities for marketing professionals in the architecture, engineering and construction industries.