A small, six-person team of Sierra Nevada Job Corps students participated in the CANstruction competition. Canstruction is a design and building competition in which teams create giant sculptures out of canned foods. The structures are judged and then all the food is donated to the Food Bank of Northern Nevada.

The SNJCC team worked with Pete Dube and Anne DeAngelis with Dube Architecture and Brett McElhaney and Cynthia Fulwider of McElhaney Structural Engineers to make its design, a six-foot-tall iPad, come to life.  The structure was titled “iCan Feed – An App for Hunger!” and concentrated on what technology could help do in the future to combat hunger. 

Design Description: Imagine a world where ending hunger is as simple as downloading an app, like “iCan Feed,” on our iPads! With just one simple click, everyone would have easy access to nutritious meals, like the more than 1,500 cans of peas, chili, corn, spaghetti and ravioli that make up the iPad’s design. The screen and docking station for the iPad are made up of 800 cans of hominy and 98 cans of chili. A total of 433 cans of sweet peas were used to create the shiny silver back of the iPad. The iCan Feed app and iconic red apple on the back are made of 118 cans of spaghetti and meatballs. The earbuds and cord were built with 93 cans of beef ravioli and four bags of great Northern beans. Hunger – There’s an app for that!

The team held three practice builds before competing on March 28, along with 11 other teams. The structure won an Honorable Mention for its creativity, one of only 6 awards given out at the competition.  The center’s structure was even featured on the news: http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/Cantastic_144736795.html

The center was excited to participate in such a fun activity and great cause benefitting the Food Bank of Northern Nevada. We look forward to competing again in next year’s competition!