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De-can-structing hunger By EVAN SANDSMARK Colorado Daily Staff In the interest of hunger alleviation in Boulder County, the inaugural Buffalo Can Challenge (BCC) will be held today in the Carlson Gymnasium between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. During the event, hosted through the Institute for Ethical and Civic Engagement (IECE), 13 teams composed of 160 students will "construct the most elaborate, colorful and surprising sculptures out of food cans," according the event's press release. The event will serve "as a way for the students here at CU to become aware that even here in beautiful Boulder, there are issues around hunger. There are people who need food, and that can be provided to them," said Joyce Kinde, assistant director of IECE. "It's a fun way to create hunger awareness for our students here on campus." The BCC also seeks to build a stronger community between the clubs and organizations participating in the event. The sculptures will be judge by a panel of five, who will award prizes for such categories as "Most Likely to Withstand an Earthquake" and the "Best Use of Color." Events like BCC, while fun, call attention to the serious issue of hunger in Boulder County. Over 32,000 people in Boulder County are living below the poverty line, the vast majority of whom have jobs, but can't earn a sufficient amount of money, according to Jim Baldwin, CEO of Boulder Community Food Share (BCFS), which is sponsoring the "canstruction" contest. For the most part, Boulder is "an affluent county -- you don't see it [poverty] on the streets, you don't observe it," said Baldwin. "They're not dying of hunger, but they are really struggling to put food on their table." With gas and food prices soaring, compounded by the faltering economy in general, low-income families face overwhelming obstacles. The struggling economy "impacts the entire community, so imagine how it's impacting those folks that are making 10-12 dollars an hour," Baldwin said. The role of groups like BCFS is to help individuals defeat some of the challenges they face by providing them with food assistance. For example, BCFS provides low-income seniors with supplemental grocery bags twice a month through the "Elder Share" program. The canned food gathered at the BCC will be used for this program as well as similar projects. Already, the BCC has amassed over 5,000 cans of food, the lion's share of which was collected by the CU Pan-Hellenic sororities. Since the participating teams provide their own cans to build with, even more food will be gathered. Once the competition concludes, all canned food collected will be shipped and sorted at the BCFS warehouse, the source of their many distribution channels. Co-sponsors of the BCC include Safeway, the Volunteer Clearing House and the Rotaract student group. Contact Evan Sandsmark about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 113, or at editor@coloradodaily.com .
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