Food Bank: Sign up for DelawareCAN drive and building contest by Sept. 3

The registration deadline for the Food Bank of Delaware’s annual DelawareCAN food drive and structure-building contest is Wednesday, Sept. 3.

In an effort to help stock the food bank’s shelves prior to the holiday season and ensure hungry Delawareans have access to healthy foods, the Food Bank of Delaware launched DelawareCAN in 2011. The competition is a creative way to collect much-needed food and create a spirited competition in Delaware’s business and education communities.

“As longtime supporters of the Food Bank of Delaware, our employees look forward to participating in DelawareCAN every year,” said Chip Rossi, Delaware market president, Bank of America. “This is an opportunity for our employees and all Delawareans to show their creativity while joining together to raise awareness and food for local families struggling to put food on the table.”

From Monday, Sept. 22 until Friday, Oct. 17, organizations will have the opportunity to hold food drives and compete to create sculptures out of the food items collected. Before collecting, teams should decide on their structure and coordinate the types of food items to be collected. Over the past three years, more than 100,000 pounds of food have been collected through the competition.

“We love seeing how creative folks can get when it comes to building structures out of nonperishable food items,” said Food Bank of Delaware President and CEO Patricia Beebe. “This is a fun and engaging way for us to not only collect needed food items, but to build awareness of the issues of hunger in our state."

Judging will take place Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 20 and 21, and winners will be announced the following week. For complete competition guidelines or to register, go to www.fbd.org/delawarecan. Questions regarding the competition may be directed to Food Bank of Delaware donor outreach coordinator Caitlin Custer at 302-292-1305, Ext. 253 or ccuster@fbd.org.