by Anthony DeMatteo
Staff Writer
For two weeks in March, the main branch of the Jacksonville Public Library is home to a fleet of tin can statues that will give their lives for charity.
Statues built for the sixth-annual “Canstruction,” where local design firms, engineers and contractors field teams to make structures from non-perishable food items, are on display until March 16 at the Main Library.
Six teams are competing in the contest, the outcome of which is decided by a four-judge panel. After trophies are awarded, the statues are dismantled and their materials donated to Lutheran Social Services Second Harvest Food Bank.
”It’s fun,” said Canstruction Chairperson Lori Orton. “It’s exciting and it’s a chance for the different companies to put together teams and compete.”
Orton is the Chief Financial Officer of Tri T. Vu Architects and secretary of the local chapter of the Society for Design Administration, which sponsors Canstruction.
The public can also vote on the best statue via ballot box at the Main Library throughout the contest. Statues, which are built in the library, are on the first through fourth floors.
Last year, the event contributed 9,000 pounds of canned food to the food bank.
“It’s a tremendous awareness opportunity for the Second Harvest Food Bank,” said Lutheran Social Services’ Director of Community Relations, Joe Chimelewski. “It is also a great opportunity to see some talented people in the city do amazing work.”
The six competing companies are: Kasper Architecture & Development, Skanska USA Building, HDR Engineering, Inc., JSA Architects, Bergmann Associates and The Haskell Company.
A contingent from Haskell’s 13-person team was building a statue of “Thomas the Tank Engine” Friday morning.
“We built ours at the office so we could work out all the kinks,” said Dominique Caldreon, an electrical designer at The Haskell Company. “Then we had to dismantle it and bring it here.”
This is Haskell Senior Architect Designer Sylvia Barber’s first year participating in the contest.
“I watched them do it last year and wanted to be a part of it,” she said. “I made signing up this year the first thing on my list.”