CANstruction brings in canned goods for Food Bank of Northern Nevada

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - Its that time of year, the 19th annual CANstruction event is underway.

“This is one of our favorite events all year because it gets students involved with architects and businesses, all making these structures out of food,” said Jocelyn Lantrip, Director of Marketing for the Food Bank of Northern Nevada.

This year, 12 teams - 9 of which, are made up of local students at schools around our area - are bringing their own structural designs to life.

“We have been designing our structures with grids, and we knew our height limits and our width limits, and we kept that in mind and then we worked together on colors,” said Lynden Berry, 8th grader at Sky Ranch Middle School.

Some of the creations this year include: a Monopoly ‘GO’ piece to bankrupt hunger, a portrait of Obi-Wan-CANobi, a washing machine to wash out hunger, the Biggest Little Lunchbox, the Eiffel Tower in Ukrainian flag colors, and a Basketball hoop and scoreboard to slam dunk out hunger 24/7.

“I like it because you get to do something for people, people who don’t get the chance to have food or don’t have a home, you get to do this for them,” said Ayden Mosby, 7th grader at Marce Herz Middle School.

It is a collaborative effort, with sponsors who donate cans for the teams, local architects who advise how to bring CAN visions to life, and Meadowood mall allotting the space for over 24,000 cans, all going to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada.

“We really need this food, our need has grown drastically, we are helping about 115,000 people every month, which is a much higher number than we’ve seen,” said Lantrip.

On Thursday, the CAN structures will be judged before getting donated to the food bank.

The public is also encouraged to join in on the fun by voting for your favorite CANstruction - each vote is $1 and all of the money goes to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada where $1 helps to deliver 3 meals to those who need them.

People’s Choice voting will take place virtually with a ($10 vote minimum) at fbnn.org.

The structures will be on display, throughout the weekend at Meadowood Mall for the public to see.

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