For the 30th year in a row, the CANstruction Dallas design event is being held to benefit the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB).
The program began on Saturday, August 27, at NorthPark Center, according to an NTFB press release, and will last until September 11.
Engineering, construction, and design industries of Dallas were brought together for the themed event to create sculptures made of cans. The CANstruction theme last year was video games. It collected around 90,000 pounds of canned food and raised more than $40,000.
The theme for this year’s event is Writing an End to Hunger, represented by books. Teams created 19 structures made of canned goods and non-perishable food.
Individuals are invited to vote on their favorite structure by donating a dollar to the team’s fundraising page. Each dollar equals one vote.
The president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank, Trisha Cunningham, shared that last year’s CANstruction provided around 194,000 meals “through money raised from the competition and the food donated from the event.” She expressed her appreciation for the participating teams’ “creativity and compassion” in partnership with NTFB in “fighting hunger in North Texas.”
CANstruction is an international nonprofit, according to the organization’s official website, with annual events held at the city level. The citywide events can be hosted by any organization that registers, including charities, food banks, and pantries.
The hunger relief charity “raises millions of pounds of food each year for local food banks,” the organization’s website shares.
CANstruction chapters compete every year in competitions citywide. Teams create “CanArt,” competing for awards in the following categories: Best Meal, Structural Ingenuity, Best Original Design, Most Cans, Best Use of Labels, and People’s Choice awards.
“Winners from each local competition then go on to compete internationally in these categories,” the organization explains.
The Dallas-based CANstruction was started in 1992, and in these 30 years, it has distributed millions of canned items. The North Texas Food Bank distributes the donations to its feeding network, which includes over 400 partners.
NTFB shared on Facebook that these kinds of resources are especially needed now because our region is seeing “elevated hunger needs that exceed levels at the height of the pandemic due to soaring inflation,” the Facebook post reads. “Household budgets are stretched thin, forcing many families to choose between food and other necessities.”
Some of the CANstruction themes in the past included famous landmarks and superheroes. Once sculptures are completed, they are displayed at NorthPark Center so the public can vote.
