Articles
Helping Hands preparing for canned-food drive
Monday, 06 February 2012 by Justin Cox
Helping Hands Ministry will host its second annual Canstruction event on the campus of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Feb. 2-5 from 5 to 8 p.m. The event is a fundraiser for the food pantry.Cans of food are not just helpful in feeding hungry families – they can be used to build intricate works of art.
They call it Canstruction – it's an event designed to both promote the giving of cans for philanthropic use as well as give an outlet to architectural firms who use actual cans of food to create colorful and incredibly complex engineering structures.
Organized locally by the Belton Helping Hands, Belton Canstruction will take place Thursday night, Feb. 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. It is open to the general public, and admission is $5 or a can of food.
Helping Hands's Rucker Preston is in charge of the event, now in its second year. He hopes that one of the teams from his group of competitors can come away with the international first place trophy for the second year in a row.
"It is a fundraiser for us, so 100 percent of all the funds that come in will be used to buy food," he said. "The other major function is to provide for all those who live like this daily. You hear about this a lot, but often times you don't realize how close to home this really is."
Helping Hands Ministry will host the second annual Canstruction event Feb. 2-4 on the campus of UMHB.At the completion of Canstruction Belton, all of the cans of food will be taken down and transported to Helping Hands Ministry of Belton. The food will be used to bolster the food pantry of Helping Hands. All other funds raised from the weekend will be used to purchase food for those in need in our community.
"A lot of people we help are single moms who have jobs but just don't bring in enough to support themselves and their families," Preston said.
Preston said that four of the teams that competed last year will once again compete this year. All the participants pay an entry fee of $125 and provide all their own cans and manpower.
In addition, a silent auction will take place throughout the weekend; beginning at 5 p.m. on Thursday, February 2nd and closing at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4.
This year's event will again take place at the Campus Mayborn Center located on the campus of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Eleven teams from the community have entered the competition. The Jurors Panel includes KCEN's Chief Meteorologist, Andy Andersen, UMHB Chancelor, Dr. Jerry Bawcom, Bell County Judge, Gregory K. Simmons and the Temple Cultural Activities Center's Visual Arts Director, Marilyn Ritchie.
This year, the public will be invited to view the structures as they are being built on Thursday, February 2nd.
All structures will be on display to the public for free on Friday, February 3rd and Saturday, February 4th. Canstruction Belton invites all who come to bring a non-perishable food item or a $1 donation as admission. All who visit to see the structures on display will be able to vote for their favorite exhibit.