On Tuesday, students participated in a food drive with a twist: a competition that involved constructing sculptures out of cans to raise money for charity. Ramapo’s Enactus Club held the event, appropriately called CANstruction.
The purpose of the drive was to have the participants construct sculptures using cans of food, and the group with the best sculpture won. The club provided each group with 40 cans and, in addition, required the group to bring at least another 25 cans. All cans would be then donated to Campbell’s: Lets Can Hunger, the creators of the CANstruction idea.
Enactus, led by Zach Shatz and Matthew Hessel, pledged to donate 5,000 pounds of food to the Campbell’s project throughout the year. By the end of the night, the group was able to collect over 800 pounds of food, 300 of which was donated by one person.
“We have pledged 5,000 pounds of food to Campbell’s: Let’s Can Hunger and will be working with the Mahwah Center for Action. We are expecting big things this year,” Shatz said.
The winning team was promised to receive 50 cents for each can in their sculpture to donate to the charity of their choice. The winners, who called themselves Team USA, provided 41 cans in total, earning about $40 for their charity, Saint Jude’s Children Hospital.
There were seven sculptures all together, each drawing the interest of spectators. Team USA’s sculpture resembled the Empire State Building and stood well over 6 feet tall. Other sculptures include a replica zoo, a football stadium and even a miniature bowling alley. Clubs, fraternities and even the Anisfield School of Business faculty participated in this year’s event.
Anyone from the College was able to cast their vote for a winner by donating a can to the project. There were two competitions all together–most cans donated and best creation. Team USA won both, receiving 41 votes and edging out the competition by at least 10 votes.
Enactus also has plans for another philanthropic project, Long Lasting Hunger. They will team up with Mahwah Center for Food Action and Oasis Haven for Women and Children in an effort to help low-income individuals find and land jobs.
Working together, Enactus and Oasis Haven plan to “help the poor get skills to get jobs [and] teach them personal financial skills too. Even help them get their GEDs,” said Hessel.
It’s a large task to say the least, but the club is more than motivated to make a difference in the community around them.
Everyone involved found the event to be a great success, according to Hessel, which may mean even bigger things are to come in the following years. CANstruction could even become an annual event at Ramapo College.
“We plan on next year’s CANstruction being even bigger,” Hessel said on behalf of the group. “We already began discussion on next year.”
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mgill@ramapo.edu
