The people chose three winners from the “Canstruction” food charity event.
St. John’s Lutheran School, Windover High School and Jefferson Middle School won awards on Sunday. Voters paid $1 for each nomination.
Canstruction is a nationwide charitable competition that involves building sculptures with canned food items. The third annual event was hosted locally by the Midland Mall, Midland Public Schools and the Midland County Emergency Food Pantry Network. The competition’s goal is to raise awareness of food insecurity in Midland County. According to United Way, 33% of households in Midland County struggle to put food on the table regularly.
Dow High School used the most cans with a total of 1,637. All of the food items that created the builds will be donated to the Midland County Food Pantry.
Ten teams of students competed in the Canstruction Midland event: Academic and Career Education Academy, Bullock Creek High School, H.H. Dow High School, Jefferson Middle School, Meridian Early College High School, Midland High School, Midland Homeschool, Northeast Middle School, St. John’s Lutheran School and Windover High School.
Together, they used more than 12,000 cans to create animal-themed structures.
Food items used in the sculptures were purchased with funds from generous sponsors and supplied through Family Fare, Kroger, LaLonde’s Market, Meijer and Spartan Nash. Hidden Harvest, Midland Public Schools, Northwood University and many community volunteers helped to organize and transport the food and to staff the voting table.
Corporate sponsors of the event are Bolger & Battle, Corteva Agriscience, Hemlock Semiconductor, and Gilbert and Miriam Harter. Platinum sponsors are Bierlein, Case Systems, Greystone Homes, Horizon Bank, Jib Box, SwiftWall, Wild’s Plumbing, Heating and Air Conditioning, Colin and Kerry Buell, Rich and Denise Helling, and Mike and Susie Staloch. Gold sponsors include First United Methodist Church, Fisher Companies, Isabella Bank, Kiwassee Kiwanis, Linked Technologies, Wildfire Credit Union, Laura and Andy Ault, and Robert M. and Jean K. Julier.