Yes they can: Fodrea wins BCSC CANstruction contest

Photo provided CSA Fodrea was named the BCSC Elementary Canstruction project with its design of their mascot name and a forklift lifting cans for donation.

Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has declared a winner for a competition that put creativity and charity on display.

“The winner of the BCSC Elementary Canstruction project was CSA Fodrea with their design of their mascot name and a forklift lifting cans for donation,” said Chanda Welsh, assistant to the director of elementary education. “In honor of their hard work, the students of CSA Fodrea won an ice cream treat for the entire school.”

Earlier in the spring, all 11 BCSC elementary schools collected canned goods for the Community Food Drive that was organized by United Way and the Bartholomew County Food Insecurity Coalition. Students then used cans to build different designs in their schools’ STEM labs, said Director of Elementary Education Laura Hack.

Schools collected about 6,000 cans over the course of the project, said curriculum specialist for STEM initiatives David Harden.

The idea came about because Kelly Daugherty, executive director of Love Chapel, mentioned that United Way’s annual CANstruction challenge would not take place this year.

“We thought that this would be a gap that we could fill and another opportunity for our community to come together to support Love Chapel,” Hack said in a previous interview. “Love Chapel does so much for our students.”

Love Chapel provides food-filled backpacks for students who are at risk of not having enough to eat over the weekend. This service is provided to all BCSC elementary schools, as well as for students at Busy Bees and St. Peter’s Lutheran.

According to United Way, Love Chapel is one of three food pantries that benefited from the community food drive.

In previous years, CANstruction was an event organized by United Way, with teams from local businesses and organizations building elaborate structures out of canned goods to raise donations for local food banks. Community members were able to vote on their favorite structures via monetary or canned good donations.

Due to COVID-19 vaccines not being available at the time of event planning, CANstruction was limited to three teams in 2021.

The 2022 event was canceled due to a pandemic-related shortage of canned goods, with event organizers saying that the seven teams would still donate the cans they had collected prior to cancellation.

United Way Volunteer Action Center Director Alicia Monroe said earlier that instead of doing CANstruction in 2023, the organization decided to hold a community-wide food drive during the month of April.

The organization does not expect to resume CANstruction in the future, said Communications Manager Magen Pillar.

Donations to the recent food drive were split between Love Chapel, The Salvation Army and the Community Center of Hope. Organizers said their goal was to collect 200,000 pounds of food or the monetary equivalent to purchase that amount.

Community members were able to participate by giving to drives at local organizations that benefited the cause, or by dropping off food at any First Financial Bank branch or at YES Cinema. They could also make monetary donations online.

As of May 17, Pillar said the community had collected 30,310 pounds of food and raised nearly $46,000 in monetary donations, which is enough to buy about 91,000 pounds of food. She also stated that there were still some cash donations coming in.

“We are thankful that our community stepped up in such a big way,” she said. “Their generosity will provide thousands of meals for children this summer.”