Competition Engages Community in Addressing Food Insecurity
By MONICA CALZOLARI
ONEONTA
For the 15th year, SUNY Oneonta’s Center for Volunteerism and Community Engagement organized multiple community participants in Canstruction, an international not-for-profit organization that alleviates hunger through CanArt®.
On Saturday, April 18, 10 local teams assembled their structures made of cans, water bottles and Chobani yogurt containers inside Southside Mall. Their artistic creations will be on display until Sunday, April 26, before being donated to local food pantries throughout Otsego County.
At 4 p.m. on April 18, Francis Carter, interim director of SUNY Oneonta’s CVCE, announced the winners of trophies which were awarded to four of the 10 participating teams. The “Most Cans” award went to the Rotary structure, comprised of a total of 2,394 cans which were arranged to show Rotary International’s motto, “End Polio Now,” embedded in a wall of cans.
The Oneonta Rotary, along with the Milford Rotary, Hartwick College and the Delta Xi Phi Multicultural Society, collaborated on this endeavor. They raised the money to purchase nearly 2,400 cans of food, chose the polio vaccination theme, designed a structure to communicate that message and assembled it.
“The fundraising and design took about two months,” said Lynne Sessions, Oneonta Rotarian and captain of the project. “Since 1988, Rotary International has eradicated 99.9 percent of polio globally.” Sessions was responsible for the team’s design showing a droplet of the polio vaccine on one side and the words “End Polio Now” on the other side.
The Rotary team wanted to remind people what is possible when members of our community come together and support a common cause like alleviating hunger locally, Sessions said.
The youngest team to participate in Canstruction was a group of 12- and 13-year-olds from Oneonta Middle School, who won the “Best Meal” trophy. They built a lighthouse with 646 cans of spaghetti and meatballs, high-protein black beans, yellow beans, and tuna fish surrounded by 432 bottles of water.
This is the fifth year that Colin Mallea is participating in Canstruction.
“The lighthouse represents a beacon of hope,” he said, “after a cold winter.”
The team’s poster states that their structure is supporting those facing food insecurities by providing a stable base.
Macall Heller helped Mallea on this project for the third time and Silas Tenace-Howard assisted for the first time. The youth had the financial support of The Ninash Foundation started by their grandmother, Linda Drake, and grandfather, Ashok Malhotra, 30 years ago. The foundation educates thousands of children in India according to Drake, whose husband was born in India.
Drake is the former director of SUNY Oneonta’s CVCE. She convinced her grandson, Mallea, to help feed the hungry through Canstruction five years ago.
“Colin and his team have won the People’s Choice award every year for the last four years,” she said proudly. “They have also won one of the four trophies awarded every year for the past five years.”
The “Structural Integrity” trophy was awarded to the Springbrook team. Their CanArt creation represented a bumble bee. Springbrook’s poster stated that “bees commonly symbolize hard work, teamwork, and dedication to the community,” the same traits and values that Springbrook epitomizes.
Chobani and its collaboration partner, the Unadilla Valley Robotics Club, won the “Best Use of Labels” trophy. Their design, made out of Chobani yogurt containers instead of cans, featured a Pac-Man chasing a cat. It celebrated the famous video game introduced 46 years ago in 1980.
Other contributors included SUNY Oneonta’s food pantry team supported by Sodexo, SUNY’s third-party food vendor, the National Society of Leadership and Success chapter at SUNY Oneonta, a sports team, and Sigma Gamma Phi supported by Residential Life.
“I really enjoy working for this office,” said Jaden Santisteban, a junior at SUNY Oneonta who has been a work-study student at CVCE since his first year in college. He is learning the value of getting involved and giving back, he said.
