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2026 United We Can Food Drive & Can Sculpture Contest

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UNITED WE CAN FOOD DRIVE + SCULPTURE CONTEST

September 18, 2026 | Back Cove, Portand

Join United Way of Southern Maine to celebrate the 10th United We CAN Food Drive + Sculpture Contest on Friday, September 18! Gather your team and build a creative CAN-struction out of non-perishable food to fight hunger. Community judges will present awards, including Best in Show, Best Meal, and Community Choice. Sculptures and food donations will be distributed throughout Cumberland and York Counties by Wayside Food Programs and Youth Full Maine.

REGISTER your team now at uwsme.org/food-drive-sign-up.

The 10th United We CAN will also be the last. It’s been an incredible run, and we are grateful to the 40+ companies that have built 120 sculptures and collected more than 278,000 meals over the past decade. Community needs have evolved over the past ten years; United Way’s efforts to address challenges must evolve too.Even after the last can is stacked, United Way will remain dedicated to fighting hunger and ensuring our neighbors have their basic needs met. 

Let’s make the last United We CAN the best one yet. Help us meet our goal of collecting 30,000 meals.

Where: Back Cove Trail Parking Lot, Portland
When: Friday, September 18
What: Collecting food to fight hunger in Southern Maine. 

Questions? Contact info@uwsme.org for more information.

How you can help:

Build a Can Sculpture 

Gather your team, make a plan, and build a monumental work of canned sculpture art! CAN-struction is creative, fun, and a great team-building exercise. Community judges will review sculptures and present awards.

Register Your CAN-Struction Team
Drop off Food Donations

Drive up, drop off, do good! Bring your donation of non-perishable food to the event and United Way staff will help unload your car.

Sign up to Drop-off Donations
Vote for Your Favorite Can-Struction

Join us at Back Cove Trail Parking Lot to admire monumental CAN-structions created by local companies and cast a vote for the Community Choice Award (onsite only).

  1. Register your team using the form above.
  2. Review the rules for can-struction.
  3. Find inspiration by checking out photos of previous years’ structures: 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016
  4. Gather an enthusiastic team and design your entry.
  5. Check out the Most Needed Food Items list for donations most in-demand by our partners.
  6. Let your employees know what food items and quantities you will need. 
  7. Practice building your sculpture so you can work out any problems before the big day.
  8. Join us on September 19 and have a blast constructing your sculpture!
  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 fairly level, 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 and 11:00 a.m. on the day of the event. 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 with judges when view your structure:
    1. # of volunteers
    2. # of materials used, e.g. cinder blocks, plywood, tape, etc.
    3. # of items collected, e.g. 2,000 cans of tuna, 16 jars of peanut butter
    4. Other fun facts.
  • Canned Veggies
  • Cereal
  • Cooking Oil
  • Dried Black, Kidney, or Pinto Beans
  • Flour
  • Kids’ Snacks
  • Macaroni & Cheese
  • Pasta
  • Peanut Butter
  • Rice
  • Soup
  • Sugar
  • Tomato Sauce
We know you’re not doing this for the glory, but this is hard work! We’ll celebrate with a few awards.
  • 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.
  • Mighty Award: Judges will select the sculpture that is most impressive, given the size of the team building it.
  • Most Creative Award: Judges will select the sculpture with the most creative design.
  • Engineering Marvel Award: Judges will select the sculpture with the most impressive engineering.
  • 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.

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

sponsorship opportunities

Ask about Sponsorships

Sponsors receive high-value visibility, demonstrate social responsibility, and support United Way’s work to help families thrive.

Lead Sponsor – $10,000

  • Recognition as Lead Sponsor in press release, website, digital communications, social media, and marketing materials.
  • Recognition as Lead Sponsor during awards ceremony.
  • Opportunity to sponsor a new or existing award category
  • Logo on onsite event signage (if confirmed by 9/1)