Canstruction^® for FEED NOVA SCOTIA 2006

Submitted by CPC Halifax
  

Every month, 42,800 Nova Scotians struggle with the anguish of hunger and rely on the help of food banks to feed themselves and their families. The Metro Food Bank Society was founded in June 1984 as an emergency food relief program to assist churches and social agencies that were experiencing increasing demands for help with food in Metro Halifax. The Society took on the responsibilities of soliciting food and monetary donations, allowing agencies to focus their efforts on making permanent changes in the lives of their clients by helping them to better their financial situations and move out of food bank lines.

In 1989, the Board of Directors set a goal for the Society to close its doors by December 31, 1994. The Board was optimistic that food bank usage would eventually diminish when economic conditions in Nova Scotia improved.  Unfortunately, this never happened.  Since then, the number of food bank clients has more than doubled and problems of poverty continue to worsen.

(At right:  Pat Forbes, Ken Robinson, Joe Perrault, unknown FeedNS guy, Geoff Ralph, John Legatto, Chris Yonke, and Tony Mancini unload pallets of canned food.)

In 2002, the Metro Food Bank Society expanded its role to help food relief programs all across the province. It was at this time that the Society changed its legal name to the Metro Food Bank Society - Nova Scotia. To better reflect its provincial role, in March 2005, the Society changed its legal name to FEED NOVA SCOTIA.

Today, FEED NOVA SCOTIA is the central collection and distribution centre for food banks and meal programs across the province and serves thousands of people each month.

Each year, FEED NOVA SCOTIA hosts Canstruction®, a community event that helps fight hunger in a way that is entertaining, fun, and a remarkable display of the talent in our community. CPC Halifax has assisted the Canstruction® event for a number of years now, providing the manpower the evening before the event to unload tractor trailer trucks filled with pallets of canned food to be used in the event the next day.

Now you might be wondering what exactly is Canstruction®?

Canstruction®:

• combines the competitive spirit of a design/build competition with a unique way to help feed hungry people;

• competing teams show case their talents by creating extraordinary sculptures entirely out of canned foods;

• a great way to build teamwork and spirit.

Teams of designers, architects and engineers create extraordinary structures entirely out of canned food. Teams create these fantastic structures using only canned food materials. Seeming to defy gravity, they are completely self-supporting, with no framework or other structural supports.

The exhibits were on display at Halifax Shopping Centre, Mic Mac Mall, Sunnyside Mall and St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish for three days. They were judged by a panel of peers, and the winning sculptures go on to international competition where they are compared with the best from 50 other cities across North America.

All the canned foods from the local event go to FEED NOVA SCOTIA. In 2005, 19,424 kg of food was donated to support the effort to fight hunger across the province.

CPC Halifax is proud to be able to “lend a hand” in support of this worthwhile cause that directly supports families in Nova Scotia that otherwise would risk going hungry.