Corridor Canstruction competition to take place this Saturday

Coralville, IA (April 11, 2012) – People have an uncanny ability to make a difference when they put their minds to it. Ever wondered if you can help fight hunger? You CAN, and it's easy.

As you've probably guessed by now, it's all about the cans. This year's Corridor Canstruction will take place at Coral Ridge Mall in Coralville this Saturday, April 14th. Come down and watch six architecture/engineering firms and nine groups of local youngsters go head-to-head to build the best super-sized structure from canned foods in just four hours.

The best part: all the cans go straight to the hungry right here in our backyard. It's a real win/win (or can/can?). HACAP Food Reservoir distributes the food to shelters, pantries, and crisis centers around east central Iowa.

But it's not just about the cans. It's what incredibly talented people can do with the cans. Here's how it works: Canstruction kicks off at 7am, and teams build until 11am. A jury of local artists, chefs, architects, and engineers judge the structures from 11am to 12pm while the public enjoys live music and helps to pick a People's Choice Award winner. The public is welcome to watch from start to finish, and the structures will be on display at Coral Ridge for a week, until Sunday April 22nd.

The structures are judged and awards are given to the top builds in each category – one for design firms and a second category for student/community teams. Awards include Best Meal, Best Use of Labels, Structural Ingenuity, and the top prize, Juror's Favorite.

Competitors in the professional category include OPN Architects, Neumann-Monson Architects, Shive-Hattery, Rohrbach Associates, Heery International/Tallgrass, and Carlson Design Team. In the student/community division, teams from Taylor Elementary (Cedar Rapids), Center Point Urbana Middle School, Cedar Rapids PACT, Southeast Junior High (Iowa City), Christ Episcopal Church (Cedar Rapids), North Central Jr. High (North Liberty), and Talented & Gifted Programs from Prairie View and Prairie Creek Elementaries (Cedar Rapids) will compete.

Even in Iowa, more than 1 in 10 families aren't sure where they'll get the food they need to feed their family. In Johnson & Linn counties alone, almost 14,000 individuals a month seek emergency food assistance at pantries and soup kitchens. To serve this need, HACAP distributes over 2 million pounds of food annually to thousands of hungry families in seven eastern Iowa counties, including Linn, Johnson, Benton, and Washington.

The corridor is joined by more than 100 cities across North America and Europe sponsoring Canstruction competitions this spring. Together they will donate over 4 million pounds of food to local food banks, and create more than 1,000 sculptures. For more information, visit www.corridorcanstruction.org.