When Kent Delperdang from the Walmart Distribution Center in Porterville was asked by a CVAF volunteer if he would participate in the Canstruction® Competition and Exhibit, the answer was a resounding yes. 

Kent not only rallied a team to enter, but he secured the company sponsorship too. The rest is history as the Walmart team earned two adult team awards in the competition and contributed nearly 5,000 cans of food from their exhibit to Community Food Bank and FoodLink.

Not to rest on their laurels, Walmart notified Central Valley Afterschool Foundation after the event that they were not finished contributing. The company’s Volunteerism Always Pays (VAP) program would reward the 45 employees who contributed 620 hours of time to the project by donating $4,000 in additional funds to the cause. The Walmart company and its employees help to make an outstanding event possible for youth and adults in the community.

The inaugural Canstruction® Competition and Exhibit was a true partnership among businesses, schools, design-build professionals and community-based organizations. Eleven student teams and adult teams were mentored by architects, engineers and builders who created 10’ by 10’ sculptures—typically 2,000-3,000 cans strong—out of cans of food. This exciting partnership resulted in a one-day competition, multiple awards, 700-800 exhibit visitors, an outstanding learning opportunity for students…and 25, 327 pounds of food to fight hunger in our region.

Canstruction®  San Joaquin Valley 2010 was made possible only by the generosity of our business partners. For information and photos of the fall 2010 event:  www.canstructionsjv.org.

CVAF would like to thank the following financial contributors:

MAJOR SPONSORS:
Donald P. Dick Air Conditioning
Lennar Homes
Walmart

HOST FACILITY:
River Park Shopping Center

PRESENTING ORGANIZATIONS:
American Institute of Architects, San Joaquin
Central California Builders Exchange
Central Valley Afterschool Foundation
Community Food Bank

CONTRIBUTING DONORS:
BennettFrost Personnel Services
Costco
Cornerstone Structural Engineering Group
Decade Software
Eye-Q-Vision
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets
Fresno Pacific University
GL Bruno Family Foundation
G7 Medical
JP Marketing
Manco Abbott
Me-n-Ed’s Pizzarias
Ron Rodgers Painting
San Joaquin Valley College
Technicon Engineering Services
Whole Foods