On the final day of the C.A.N.S. Around The Oval food and fund drive, donations from 13 Poudre School District schools arrived at Colorado State University’s Oval. PSD schools raised over 14,000 pounds of food and almost $10,000 in monetary donations this year.
C.A.N.S. Around The Oval is more than just a fun competition between PSD schools, CSU departments, and local teams. C.A.N.S. stands for "cash and nutritious staples." This 38-year-old tradition raises awareness about food insecurity while collecting food and funds for the Food Bank for Larimer County from mid-September to mid-October.
Participating schools this year included teams from Beattie, Bethke, Dunn, Johnson, Kruse, Lopez, and Riffenburgh elementary schools; Kinard and Preston middle schools; Centennial and Rocky Mountain high schools, Polaris Expeditionary School, and Timnath Middle-High School.
Kinard Middle School was a top "CANtributor" in the food and funds portion of this drive in PSD, with 2,973.8 pounds of food and $5,459.08 raised. Rocky Mountain High School placed second in both categories with 2,146.80 pounds and $3,471.57 raised. In third place for total pounds donated in PSD was Bethke Elementary School's Service Leadership Club with 1,849.6 pounds raised, and total monetary donations was Timnath Middle-High School's National Honor Society with $337.35 raised.
During the collection day at the Oval, nine groups of students from Bethke, Dunn, and Lopez elementary schools also competed in a sculpture competition using cans of donated food as part of the annual CANstruction event. This year's CANstruction challenge had the biggest turnout CSU had seen in years. With sculptures depicting school mascots, castles, and other architectural wonders, students used their imaginations and teamwork skills in a friendly competition to learn more about food insecurity.
After explaining their creations to C.A.N.S. Around The Oval organizers, Lopez Elementary School came out on top with Morgan Stickler's third-grade class in first. Dunn Elementary School placed second, and Bethke Elementary School took third place with their fifth-grade Service Leadership Club students.
