Horton Works for You! Dr. Seuss theme feeds City inspiration for CANstruction 2019

Hundreds of hours of planning, practice and preparation, thousands of pounds of non-perishable food-items, one common goal: to fight hunger and its root causes here in Calgary.

For 14 years, organizations across Calgary including a volunteer group of Engineers-In-Training (EITs) from The City have been helping build awareness and support for the Calgary Food Bank through CANstruction, a global anti-hunger project combining architectural brainpower and design creativity.

Landon Evans, a recent civil engineering grad, and EIT working in The City’s Roads division says their submission – a play on Horton Hears a Who! (to fit this year’s Dr. Seuss theme), is comprised of more than 9,500 cans of tuna.

“Smaller cans mean more time to build, especially with our massive footprint (a nine-foot tall structure), but we knew proteins and canned meat are high demand items for the Food Bank so we wanted to build something that would really benefit Calgarians in need.”

The Calgary Food bank provides more than 260 hampers feeding some 700 people per day, roughly 180,000 people a year.

“The biggest misconception is the variety of people using the food bank,” said Dan Ouellette, Development Coordinator of Organizational Giving. “It’s not who you’d expect to see accessing the Food Bank. We’re perceived as a pretty affluent city and yet we have people from all demographics, and all communities who rely on our services.”

To view a wish list of in demand items, make a donation or access emergency food services visit calgaryfoodbank.com.

Check out The City’s submission, Horton Works For You! at Southcentre Mall, March 15 -21 or cast your vote for the People’s Choice Award here.