St. Dunstan Episcopal’s Team DeCanstruction

Just as important as the teams who built the structures are the volunteers who make sure that the food gets to people in need in our community.  Thanks to all of the volunteers helping make it happen!

Did you have your photo taken in our Photo Booth?  See all of the photos and download them here!

Area design professionals judged the structures based on a set of criteria.  The winners were announced at a ceremony to a crowd of hundreds, all who had entered the event by donating a can of food as a part of a community wide drive.

The winners are:

Most Nutritious Meal
Asbury United Methodist Church:  A Light in the Darkness

Best Use of Labels
Thinking Outside the Can:  Simon

Most “Cans”
CPM HealthGrades:  Finishing First in the Race to End Hunger

Structural Ingenuity:
Capitol Insurance Companies:  Strike Out Hunger

“Tooned in Award”
Students of Globe University:  Stomping Out Hunger

Judge’s Choice
Zingg Design, Inc.:  Delivering Help for Hunger

People’s Choice
Flad Architects:  Barnyard Bounty

Thanks to everyone who participated, attended or donated to make this event such a success!

The Teams have begun dropping off their cans, packaged goods, and building supports. 
Two structures are already up, as Madison Area Builders Association, one of Canstruction Madison’s presenting sponsors, built a Backhoe and a Construction Man out of cans to stay up as a display at KEVA prior to the event.

Certco, Inc., in conjunction with Capitol Centre Market, were the grocery sponsors for the event, and they brought their big truck to unload several teams food orders.

Tomorrow morning, the teams will arrive bright and early and begin their build. By 5pm, they will be ready for you to come and vote for your favorite structure, for the coveted People’s Choice Award.

Join us!

Join us for the second annual Canstruction Madison!

Learn more about the event on May 3!

There is still time to purchase a pre-packed bag at Metcalfe’s West for only 9.99! Bags have been packed to include items that are needed at the Food Pantry and will be available throughout the month of April, and will contribute to our final goal.

Find out more about food drives happening throughout the community or to register your own drive on our Community Wide Food Drive page.

Huge thanks to the community, Metcalfe’s West, and NBC15 for a successful Stuff the Truck event on April 6 and 7.  In all, we received more than 4,000 pounds (or two tons) of food. This effort gets us kicked off for our Canstruction event goal of raising 25 tons of food for people in need throughout the community.

In 2011, there were 12,300 visits to the Food Pantry and Mobile Food Pantries (an increase of 54% from 2010), distributing nearly 339 tons of food, an increase of nearly 60% from 2010. That is equal to 17 semi trucks of food. The Food Pantry will need an increase of 50 tons – or 2 ½ semis worth – of donated food plus an increase in $ donations, to keep up with the projected demand in 2012.

Who will win these amazing trophies, donated by Total Awards & Promotions?

“Growing up in a single parent household, my mother often needed to use a food pantry for us to eat,” she recalls. A lack of education and having two children to feed on a minimum wage income led Cynthia’s mom and her family to rely on others to help them get by.

“When guests come in to MOM, I completely relate because I’ve been there. Without organizations like MOM I would have gone hungry as a child.”

It is with this selfless, pay-it-forward motivation that moves Cynthia to do all she can to help those around her in need. The highly motivated and organized Senior Marketing Coordinator for CPM in Madison is the manager behind their award-winning Canstruction^â team. In fact, she helped lead her team to a sweeping victory, capturing the trophy for “Most Cans Used” at MOM’s inaugural Canstruction^â event at KEVA Sports Center last year. Though, the whole experience unfolded from scratch, with no details and no plans.

 “The whole process was really play-by-ear because it was MOM’s and our first year of doing Canstruction^â, so we didn’t have too much detail about what we needed to do. We just knew we wanted to build the biggest structure,” she smiles.

In early 2011, Cynthia, head of CPM’s Goodwill Committee, and CPM’s Senior Vice President of Operations, Erick Hallick, met  with Jackson Fonder, then Executive Director of MOM, to discuss a new charitable opportunity that MOM was considering.

“I like to be involved with different activities at work, and fortunately I work for a great company that also sees the needs to help the community.”

CPM supports MOM on an annual basis, raising more than 8,000 pounds of food over the past five years. The company excitedly agreed to participate, wanting to support MOM in a new way.

“Being part of the Canstruction^â was a natural fit for the company,” Cynthia explains. “Everyone at CPM loves Canstruction^â, and the company as a whole is very centered on the community and how they can help others.”

Getting the initial planning process started was an easy fit to Cynthia’s repertoire of responsibilities. Being involved with direct-mail campaigns for CPM, Cynthia is used to high-paced organizing and planning.

2011 "In the Lab": Bunsen and Beaker, the Muppets, are in the lab to find a cure for hunger.

“I did hours of research, making notes, printing off pictures and zooming in from all angles to see what was in between the cardboard here, and how they stacked the cans there,” Cynthia laughs. “But I couldn’t have done it without my team.”

And with drive and determination like Cynthia’s, 2011’s Canstruction^â found 19 teams building extraordinary structures with nearly 20 tons of food, or nearly 4,255 bags of groceries that were handed out during the busy summer months. For Cynthia, every hour of research and every minute or stacking cans was worth it.

“After 16 hours, building a complete structure out of 4,363 cans, our team was able to stand back and say, ‘we did that.’ All that hard work paid off and we finished,” she reflects. “It was such a cool feeling. And we were extremely proud to be part of this amazing process that helps people in our community.”

As for plans for 2012? “We still want to be the biggest,” Cynthia smiles confidently. “But even if we don’t win an award, we’re still doing what we aim to do and are raising awareness and food for MOM. So in the end, we’re winning no matter what, and that feels really good.”