Project Canstruction: A Giving Experience Needs Your Help

Hello Everyone,

In the spirit of being thankful for the blessings in my life, I would like to share with you a wonderful experience that our family is participating in.

My two daughters are involved in a school project that involves creating a sculpture out of canned food. They are participating in the Canstruction competition here in Denver and the group has decided to construct a "Can"burger out of healthy, nutritious canned food.

They are members of MESA Club, an afterschool club at North Star Elementary, that focuses on teaching children about Math, Engineering and Science using fun and educational activities.  Mrs Rensink, their teacher, has been helping this small group of approx. 20 children (consisting of 3-5 graders) to create their project from the designing phase all the way through to construction.  In addition, this is a wonderful community service project that has helped the children to understand the importance of helping out others in their community.
The kids have been busy asking family and friends to help by donating canned goods to help build their "Can"burger and so far they have collected approx. 200 cans. All the canned food used in their sculpture will be donated to the Salvation Army Food Bank to help families in need.
As excited as they are about competing in this event, they are more concerned about making sure they collect enough cans to be able to help as many families as possible so they will not be hungry this holiday season. I am so proud of them all for their hard work. They remind me to be thankful for being fortunate enough to have food on the table each meal and the ability to go and buy food when the cupboards are empty. It is a timely reminder that with these economic hard times, there are many families who are struggling to make ends meet, and even one can of food can make a difference in a family's life.
The "Can"burger is made up of layers of different canned foods to create the illusion of a hamburger.  Peanut butter jars are being collected to create the bun on the top and bottom of the burger.  The yummy light brown color of peanut butter is a perfect match to create the look of a whole wheat bun.  We discovered that Walmart's Value Brand has the smallest label to allow the maximum amount of color to show through.  The red lids also provide the illusion of ketchup on the bun. 
The meat layer is created with cans of Bush's Original Baked Beans and the lettuce layer is made up of Del Monte Canned Vegetables with their pretty green labels. We have been tracking down the sales at the various grocery stores in search of canned peas, beans, corn and carrots in our quest for a healthy layer of lettuce.
For the final layers, we are using Hormel Chili with Beans cans with their beautiful bright red and yellow labels to create our layers of tomato and cheese to perfect our "Can"burger.
Last, but not least, we are using Campbell's Tomato Soup to create a handle like an old fashioned stamp on top of our "Can"burger.  The theme for our sculpture: Stamp Out Hunger.
This experience has also helped to teach the children about the importance of eating healthy and they have been studying the food pyramid and applying it to their construction design.
If you would like to learn more about Canstruction, please visit their website: http://www.canstruction.org/  and be prepared to be amazed at the wonderful sculptures that have ben created that will help many families in need. The children need to collect approx. another 900-1000 cans to complete their sculpture and they have just over a week to collect enough cans to begin construction of their "Can"burger.  The competition is on Friday, December 4th and the children will have four hours to construct their sculpture.  After judging is complete, the sculptures will be on display until Sunday, December 13th at the Colorado Mills Shopping Center and then the cans will be donated to the Salvation Army Food Bank.
If you would like more information or would like to help the children to meet their goal to collect enough cans to create their "Can"burger, please email me , or if you live in the North Metro Denver area, you can drop off donations of cans or money at the school tomorrow (Tuesday) or next week, Monday through Wednesday. To learn more about North Star click here: http://northstar.adams12.org/ . 
I will keep you updated on their progess as best I can over the next week and a half and will share photos of their finished "Can"burger here on my blog next week so that you can see the fruits of their labor. 

Wishing you all a day filled with blessings, big and small.
Stamping Hugs,
Tricia

P.S.  Here is a list of the Cans and sizes we are collecting
190 cans of Bush’s Baked Beans, 28 oz.
210 cans of Hormel Chili, 15 oz.
216 cans of Del Monte “green type” canned vegetables, 15 oz.
394 plastic jars of Value brand Peanut Butter, 17 oz.
61 cans Campbell's Tomato Soup, 10 3/4 oz.