#inform-video-player-1 .inform-embed { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }

#inform-video-player-2 .inform-embed { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }

Want to be creative for a cause? As well as getting to do a little bit of smack talking? Consider being a part of God’s Food Pantry’s CANdemonium competition.

CANdemonium 2024 is in full swing, with teams being encouraged to hold food drives for cans that can be used to create sculptures. At the end, the public will be able to vote on their favorite art pieces, and God’s Food Pantry will get the cans to help stock their shelves during the summer.

The food drive portion of the event opened last week. Teams have a little more than a month to collect cans. Then, from April 13 through April 28, the resulting sculpture should be on display in a public space. If a team doesn’t have a space of their own, they can contact the food pantry, which has secured a public space that the team can use to build their piece.

God’s Food Pantry Executive Director Brenda Russell came up with the idea as a way of filling their shelves during the time of year when the pantry tends to run out – summertime.

Russell made the rounds last week to Somerset City Council and Pulaski County Fiscal Court to get the word out about the contest

“Having been in the food pantry for the last 10 years, I know that there is a cycle to feeding,” Russell told Somerset council members. “I know that once again this year we’re going to have empty shelves again in July and August. When the kids let out of school at the end of May and the families start leaning on us a little harder to help feed their children who are not being fed at school, our shelves go empty.”

She told Fiscal Court that the pantry will serve 3,000 to 4,000 families during the summer.

“That’s a really hard thing to do on empty shelves,” she said.

The theme for the contest is “Everyone CAN be a hero,” meaning teams should plan their arrangements around who they see as their heroes: police, EMS firefighters, a family member, doctors, or whoever.

Russell is asking churches, schools, school groups, civic groups, families or businesses to form teams. Each team must use at least 500 metal or plastic cans (no glass) of any shape and size to create their artwork.

Teams must also register in advance with God’s Food Pantry to be eligible to participate in the voting. A full set of rules is available from the pantry, but in general, the structure needs to be at least 36 inches tall; it must be self-supporting, it can use certain materials (cardboard, plywood, plexiglass, etc.) for leveling, but it cannot be supported by wood or metal structures; items such as velcro, double-sided tape, string, wire or zip ties can be used to hold cans together, but no damage can be done to the labels, and labels cannot be removed or damaged (the cans must be clearly marked as what is inside them); and certain boxed or bag items can be used for design purposes.

Oh, and about that smack talking – Russell said, “We want to create a fun event. … A little friendly competition, a little smack talking on social media to get other people energized.”

Such smack talking should be “polite and fun” she added.

Families should be able to go to see each of the structures as they are built, and photos of the art pieces will be posted online. For $1, members of the community will be able to vote for their favorite sculptures. That means that not only will the pantry get the cans of food at the end of the contest, but it will be able to raise money through the voting, Russell said.

Russell told Fiscal Court that God’s Food Pantry is the largest-serving pantry in the lower south central area of Kentucky.

“There’s a whole lot counties out there that only have pantries that serve one or two days a month, and when they serve that one or two days a month, they only serve for one or two hours,” she said.

God’s Food Pantry is open five days a week for four and a half hours a day, she said.

For more information and to find the registration packet, visit the “God’s Food Pantry CANdemonium Event” Facebook page.

#inform-video-player-3 .inform-embed { margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 20px; }