The Food Bank of Delaware’s “CANgineering” contest allowed local groups and businesses to flex their creative muscles while also collecting much-needed canned goods for people in need.
The annual contest encourages entrants to use canned or boxed foods to build sculptures or other designs. After judging, all the food is donated to the Food Bank for distribution in the community.
“It’s a creative way to collect donations to benefit food-insecure Delawareans, while encouraging spirited competition amongst local organizations,” Food Bank spokeswoman Kim Turner said.
This year’s competition yielded more than 17,000 pounds food. Teams signed up in April, held a workplace-based food drive and used then the items they collected to create sculptures.
CANgineering supports the year-round hunger relief efforts of the Food Bank of Delaware for the more than 114,000 Delawareans relying on the services of the Food Bank each year.
“After the holiday season, donations are normally down during the spring and summer months,” Turner said. “Unfortunately, hunger never takes a break, so the Food Bank is planning a school-based CANgineering contest this fall.”
The competition drew 25 entries statewide.
A green and pink daisy created by the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority was judged the Best in Show. Zakat Foundation’s creation of a Food Fort of Delaware won the popular vote through a week-long social media campaign.
Other winners included:
Best Use of Labels – Fuji Film (Paint Brush)
Most Needed Items – JP Morgan Chase (I Love DE)
Most Structurally Sound – DuPont Experimental Station (Solar House)
Most Creative – Meadow Larks (4H Mini Golf Course)
Largest Food Drive – Bank of America, Deerfield (Helping Hand)
Best Representation of Organization’s Mission – Delaware Emergency Management Agency (Eye of the Hurri”can”)
Honorable Mention – The Alias Group (Minion)