Helping To Feed

The Hungry

To the Editor:

For the last three months, the seventh grade GATES students at Newtown Middle School have been helping feed Connecticut’s hungry through the American Institute of Architect’s CANstruction program. The program combines charity and the innovative spirit of creativity in a very unique design and build competition. 

The goal of the competition is to build gigantic structures utilizing canned goods, which at the end of the competition are donated to the Connecticut Food Bank.  Working in partnership with Leigh Overland Architect Inc, and design professional Gary Doski, the students designed a 5-by-5-by-5-foot replica of the United States Department of Agriculture’s food pyramid. Their structure required close to 3,000 cans of food.

The students had the daunting task of collecting these cans while raising awareness about hunger in Connecticut.  The 23 seventh graders were skeptical about their chances of success, but, thanks to their hard work and the collaboration of Newtown’s business, religious, and civic organizations, the students managed to achieve their goal.

At this time, I would like to thank those groups that took the time to help my students feed Connecticut’s hungry.  In particular, I would like to thank the Newtown Neighbors and Newcomers Club, which donated $400 toward the purchase of over 700 cans of food.  I would also like to thank Big Y Supermarket, My Place, St John’s Episcopal Church, and parent volunteers Sandy and Gary Doski.

Thanks to all of their efforts, Newtown Middle School will be able to proudly display their Can Sculpture at the Hartford Civic Center the week of May 11, and add their cans to the total, enabling CANstruction to donate over 18,000 pounds of canned food to the Connecticut Food Bank.

Sincerely,

Patrice Gans

Teacher

Newtown Middle School

11 Queen Street, Newtown                                                 May 8, 2007