February 27 marks the beginning of the Anchorage, Alaska CANstruction 2015, a charity event hosted by the Food Bank of Alaska held at the University Center Mall.

Engineers, architects, and even high school students compete to build the best sculptures completely out of canned and box food products. This years theme “Under the Sea”, where competitors focus on projects resembling sea creatures, monsters, or famous monuments such as the Titanic. Teams have 12 hours to build their sculptures, which are then put on display until March 8 and taken down and donated through the food bank to hungry people, homes, and shelters throughout the local community.

David Ziemer with RIM Architects said the following: “We have been participating in CanStruction every year since it started here in Anchorage.  It’s a really cool event that allows the design community to express their creativity while helping those people in Anchorage that just don’t have enough to eat,” he said.

The awards ceremony was held on March 4, where the following were awarded.

Best Meal – “Anchor(age)” by Dimond HIgh Engineering Academy

Most Cans Award & Structural Ingenuity – “CAN’t touch this” by DOWL

Juror’s Favorite – “Great Pacific Octopus” by Enterprise Engineering

Best Use of Labels – “Kraken Sea Monster” by R&M Consultants

Honorable Mention – The Beatles “Yellow Submarine” by RIM Architects & Reid Middleton

Honorable Mention – “CANnerhead White Shark” by Schneider Structural Engineers

Honorable Mention -“TiCANic” by Michael Baker International & Coffman Engineers

Honorable Mention – “Here, fishy, fishy, fishy” by CH2MHill

Additionally a people’s choice award is presented to the team who gained the most votes, which are in this case, canned food brought from home. One can equals one vote. As the deCANstruction of the event took place, a total of 33,788 pounds of canned food was collected, notable for the general lack of stockpiled food during the months following the holidays.

The Food Bank of Alaska’s goal is to support families and individuals by eliminating hunger. The ability to focus on say, looking for jobs, or simply saving for other necessities without worrying about hunger helps encourage people to achieve their potential and establish future success.

How can you do your part? There may be more ways than you know. Help end hunger in Alaska by donating either cans or money to the food bank where every dollar gets five pounds of food.