March 11, 2020 at 3:22 p.m.
CANtastic 2020 big success for RAFP
6,664 cans donated via annual fundraiser
CANtastic 2020 big success for RAFP
By Stephanie Kuski-
RAFP Executive Director Guy Hansen said this year's event was a tremendous success.
Six teams competed in this fundraiser, including Positively Rhinelander, Team PeliCAN, Calvary Baptist Church, United Methodist Youth Fellowship, Park City Credit Union and Associated Bank.
This year's theme was "On the Road to Ending Hunger," in which participants created structures made entirely of donated food cans which fit the theme.
Through this fundraising effort, a total of 6,664 cans of food are now available through the RAFP for local distribution to area families in need. Of those donated food items, 5,442 cans were used to create the structures themselves and an additional 1,222 cans were received in voting for the People's Choice Award.
Three winners were chosen for the 2020 CANtastic fundraiser, and the three categories awards were presented in include Most Cans Used, People's Choice Award and Judge's Choice Award.
The trophy for Most Cans Used to create their structure was presented to Positively Rhinelander, which used an astonishing 1,956 cans to create their lighthouse structure, equipped with a convincing jerry-rigged revolving light at the top.
The People's Choice Award was determined by the number of cans patrons contributed as their votes once the structures were on display at the Rouman Cinema. The PeliCAN School team, who reproduced the Mackinac Bridge as their CANstructure to illustrate bridging the hunger gap, won by the skin of their necks with a final tally of 437 additional cans cast as votes.
Hansen said the competition this year was very close, especially in the category of People's Choice Award, since the United Methodist Youth Fellowship team trailed closely behind Team PeliCAN for much of the competition, and ended with 423 additional voting cans, a marginal 14 can difference.
That competitive spirit continued to the very end, as three volunteer judges scored each team for the Judge's Choice Award. Team United Methodist Youth Fellowship won this time, though, their large Wisconsin license plate taking home the trophy with 56 out of 60 possible points. Team Positively Rhinelander tied with Calvary Baptist Church for second place with 53 points, and Team PeliCAN finished with an honorable mention worthy of 50 points.
Hansen said the competition this year was great, and their totals even surpassed previous years.
"It was very competitive, and it was the most cans we've ever collected with a total of 6,664 cans which were used in the structures and voting," Hansen said. "It's a great contribution, that's a big donation to the food pantry. That beat previous years by more than a thousand cans."
Hansen said that at about $1 per food can - and roughly one pound per can - this fundraiser collected about 6,712 pounds of canned goods (and was close to a $7,000 donation). The RAFP gives out roughly 10,000 pounds of food every week, so the items collected during CANtastic will help tremendously with their efforts, he said.
Those 6,000+ pounds of food will be distributed locally throughout the course of several weeks, potentially even a few months. Since canned goods keep longer and provide ample nutritional value, Hansen said this food will go further than items such as produce which spoil quickly.
Prior to their build day on Feb. 22, CANtastic teams had to fundraise for the cans they used in their structures, often soliciting local businesses for monetary or food donations. In this way, then, this fundraiser was a community effort from start to finish.
In addition, this year's teams will be asked to select next year's theme, which will most likely be hosted again at the Rouman Cinema in Rhinelander.
Hansen thanks George Rouman for hosting CANtastic as well as all CANtastic teams for participating and contributing to the RAFP.
Stephanie Kuski may be reached at [email protected].
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