Canstruction Toronto invites teams of engineers, architects, and designers to take part in the 18th annual Canstruction at the Toronto Dominion Centre in Toronto.
Canstruction is an international annual design and build competition to raise awareness about the growing hunger gap. Teams of architects, engineers, designers and students design and build ‘Canstructures’, structures made entirely from canned foods within a 10’x10’x8’ space.
Teams compete for the titles: Jurors Favourite, Best Use of Labels, Best Meal and Structural Ingenuity. After the competition and exhibition, the structures are deconstructed and all of the cans are donated to Daily Bread Food Bank, the largest provider of food relief in the GTA. A jury will judge the completed ‘canstructures’ anonymously on May 17, 2016 and the winners will be announced at an evening reception held at the Design Exchange.
“Canstruction is a unique type of food drive and a way for the design community to collaborate in a creative way and give back to the community we build in,” says Helen Kabriel, co-‐chair of Canstruction Toronto. “Not only do they give back through food donations, but their structures attract an audience and provoke discussions on hunger and the challenges facing our city.”
Last year, over 50,000 pounds of donated food were sculpted into audacious, edible statues before being donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank. Since the event started in Toronto in 1999, Canstruction Toronto has donated more than 920,000 pounds of food to Daily Bread Food Bank. Since 1992, Canstruction has contributed more than 30 million pounds of food to programs around the world. Canstruction events are held annually in over 150 cities around the world including North America, Australia, South America, Europe and Asia.
Last year, Daily Bread Food Bank provided food for 716,000 hampers in addition to thousands of nutritious meals and snacks at breakfast programs, homeless shelters and prenatal programs for mothers on low incomes. That’s $22 million worth of purchased and donated food delivered to those who need it most. While the lead-‐up to Christmas is typically a high-‐donation time for food banks, as the weather gets nicer, the contributions decline. Canstruction Toronto is helping fill that gap.
“The impact of Canstruction is enormous. It provides thousands of pounds of high quality and nutritious food at a time of year when donations typically fall off,” says Gail Nyberg, executive director of Daily Bread Food Bank. “Canstruction is incredibly important, especially at this time of year, when people may not be thinking about the food bank as much. It helps us to keep our hampers full and nutritious throughout the warm months,” says Nyberg. “The real winners of Canstruction are the 80,000 people who will use our food banks each and every month.”
The public is invited to an information night about Canstruction on Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 6:00pm at the Design Exchange (234 Bay St).
