TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — When you walk into Park Place Mall don't be alarmed if you run into some "cansculptures."
The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona is holding its annual fun and unique building competition over the next two weeks to raise awareness about fighting hunger.
Three teams across Tucson built their sculptures Saturday made entirely out of canned food as part of Canstruction Tucson.
Liana Sharp, senior event specialist at the Community Food Bank, said the competition draws from a wide range of industries.
"Whether that be construction workers or like construction firms, architects, anything like that," Sharp said.
This year Tucson Electric Power (TEP), Onyx Creative, BWS Architects, Lloyd Construction, and Zona Technical Engineering participated.
The teams had to stick with the theme Fun and Games. TEP created a replica of Wheel of Fortune calling it "Spin to Win Against Hunger", Onyx Creative went for "Wreck-It Ralph: Wrecking Hunger", and the last team created a Rubik's Cube called "Twisting to Solve Hunger."
Sharp said it was cool to watch the plan being put into action.
"It's really fun to watch these come to life. We had an idea with the spin the wheel one. We kind of realized that. We realized, you know, with a Rubik's Cube, but then we were like, what are they going to do for Wreck-It Ralph? So it was really, really awesome to see these all come together," Sharp said.
Sharp said events like Canstruction Tucson help draw attention to food insecurity in the community.
"It helps a lot. So especially during the summer, we see a lot of the need increase, especially for children because they're out of school right now, so they're not getting that nutrition that they'd normally get for maybe breakfast or lunch there," Sharp said.
Tucsonan Daniel Cyburt said he was there as the teams were building and is impressed by the Wheel of Fortune design.
"It's almost got the spitting image of the wheel, and the contestant podiums and their own Vanna White right over there," Cyburt said.
Each sculpture includes a title, description, and a QR code where visitors can vote for their favorite. Every donation made gets one vote.
Cyburt said the cause is one worth supporting.
"Cause there's a lot of hungry people out there and they need it," Cyburt said.
Visitors can also bring canned food or non-perishable items to donate and put it in the boxes near the displays.
Sharp said last year 24,000 pounds of food was donated and hopes even more food will go to people in need this year.
The last day to vote for your favorite cansculpture is July 8 and "Decanstruction Day" is July 10.
After the competition closes, all canned goods will be distributed to more than 400 local hunger relief organizations across Southern Arizona.
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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