NEWS

United We Can Food Drive & Can Sculpture Contest

Join us to kick off United Way of Southern Maine’s 2024 Community Campaign with the United We CAN Food Drive + Sculpture Contest on Friday, September 13 at Thompson’s Point. Help address food insecurity by dropping off a donation of non-perishable food or participate in a fun team-building activity by building an elaborate CAN-struction out of non-perishable food. Community judges will present awards, including Best in Show, at noon. Sculptures will be donated to Wayside Food Programs and Youth Full Maine and distributed throughout Southern Maine.  In addition, the Falafel Mafia Food Truck will be at the event from 10:30 am – noon.

Confirmed CAN-struction Teams:

  • Bank of America
  • CCB, Inc.
  • Dead River Company
  • Gorham Savings Bank
  • Hannaford Supermarkets
  • Hussey Seating Company
  • IDEXX
  • KeyBank
  • L.L.Bean
  • MaineHealth
  • Martin’s Point Health Care
  • Northern Lights Mercy Hospital
  • RTS Packaging
  • WEX
  • Zachau Construction

About United Way of Southern Maine

United Way mobilizes communities to action so all can thrive. With deep local roots in Southern Maine, United Way sees how our community’s greatest challenges like food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of access to child care and health services are connected, and how we can bring people and resources together to address them. 

Supporting Sponsor

Media Sponsor

Audio Visual Sponsor

Food Sponsor

How Can You Participate?

Food Donation Drop Off:

Drive through, drop off, do good! Bring your donation of non-perishable food to Thompson’s Point and help address ongoing food insecurity in Southern Maine. 

Food Donation Drop Off: 8 am – 12 pm

Company Food Donation Sign Up: https://uwsme.org/food-drive-sign-up.

Build a Can Sculpture:

For those looking to have a little extra fun, join us at Thompson’s Point to create a work of canned sculpture art.

Can-Struction: 8 am – 11 am
Award Announcements: 12 pm

Sign Up for Your Team at https://uwsme.org/food-drive-sign-up.

Vote for Your Favorite Can-Struction

Admire monumental CAN-structions created by local companies and cast a vote for the Community Choice Award

Information for Can-Struction Teams

CONSTRUCTION RULES

  1. Build any kind of structure — from the simple to the ornate!
  2. Teams may use props, including signage, and supporting materials when building, but structures must be comprised of at least 50% food items and/or basic needs items. The ground should be more level this year, compared to previous contests, but teams are allowed to bring a flat platform to build on top of.
  3. Sculptures must fit within a 10’x10’ space unless otherwise requested.
  4. Collected items cannot be painted, taped, or otherwise altered in a way that makes them unsuitable for donation. You may cover food items with paper as long as it’s taped to itself and removed by your team after the event.
  5. Teams may construct sculptures between 8:00 – 11:00 a.m. on September 13. You may arrive later in morning, depending on how much time you think you’ll need. You are also allowed to arrive earlier than 8:00, but please reach out to United Way to confirm your plans.
  6. A team from your organization is needed to clean up and load food after the event.
  7. Best practices tip! Track and share the following:
    • # of volunteers
    • # of materials used, e.g. cinder blocks, plywood, tape, etc.
    • # of items collected, e.g. 2,000 cans of tuna, 16 jars of peanut butter
    • Other fun facts.

NEXT STEPS

  1. Register your team using the form above.
  2. Find inspiration by checking out photos of previous years’ structures: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 201820172016
  3. Gather your most creative team and design your entry.
  4. Check out the Most Needed Items list for donations most in-demand by our partners, Wayside Food Programs & Youth Full Maine.
  5. Let your employees know what food items and quantities you will need and do a “trial run.”
  6. Have a blast constructing your sculpture!

AWARDS

We know you’re not doing this for the glory, but this is hard work! We’ll celebrate with a few awards.
Small + Mighty Award: Judges will select the best sculpture CANstructed by a small business (employee size up to 99).
Rookie Award: Judges will select the best sculpture assembled by a new team (1st or 2nd year).
Best Meal Award: Judges will review sculptures for ingredients which would make the best well balanced, healthy meal.
Best in Show: Judges will select the best in show based on the design (originality and creativity), craft (balance, proportions, detail, and use of space), and amount of food collected.
Community Choice Award: Event attendees will cast electronic votes to determine their favorite.

NOTE: Organizations are eligible to win only one award (with the exception of Community Choice Award).

Come See the Sculptures and Join the Fun on Friday, September 13, 2024 at Thompson’s Point!