On Sunday, March 22, Oneonta Rotarians gathered at Oneonta’s Southside Mall to compete in the 15th Annual CANstruction Competition. CANstruction is an annual exhibit and design competition that challenges competing teams to design and build structures out of canned food items.
The structures were on display from March 22-30 and at the end of the exhibit, the canned food was donated to Otsego County food pantries through the Hunger Coalition. The competition was coordinated by SUNY Oneonta’s Volunteer and Community Engagement Program.
Oneonta Rotary’s first ever entry was the Rotary logo, entitled “As the Meal Turns.” At 1 p.m. on “Build Day”, the team used chalk to sketch an outline of the Rotary logo on the floor. The team worked for two and one-half hours to set the cans—Progresso Beef and Vegetable Soup placed upside down, followed by Dole No Sugar Added Pineapple stacked on top, right side up, with navy and white UPC codes and nutritional labels aligned to the front, The crowning touch--a layer of gold topped cans of StarKist Water Packed Tuna - completed the structure which consisted of 890 cans weighing a total of over 700 lbs. at a cost of $2,000. Each of the three-can columns in the structure represented a complete meal of soup, tuna and fruit.
While Oneonta Rotary won the Best Use of Labels Awardthe real beneficiaries were food pantries in Otsego County. Together, the 11 competing teams contributed 9,000 cans of food weighing 7,500 lbs. at a cost of $13,000.
Oneonta Rotary is grateful to Hannaford Supermarket for their assistance and in-kind donation and to Hartwick College for printing assistance.
On to next year! Perhaps we can challenge a few other Otsego County Rotary Clubs to join in the competition?
Oneonta Rotary CANstruction Statement: Our build is called “As the Meal Turns.” Our structure is The Rotary Wheel, a gear comprised of 24 cogs, six spokes and a keyway which symbolically attaches the gear to a power shaft. The turning wheel represents Rotarians, powered by Service Above Self, making positive changes in the world. Like the turning Rotary wheel, a good meal turns nutrition into the power that children and adults need to live healthy lives. Our choice of blue and gold cans of soup, fruit, and tuna represent both Rotary Colors and a healthy, high protein and low-fat complete meal.
