Builds begin for RIFA’s 2024 Canstruction event
JACKSON, Tenn. — RIFA’s Canstruction event is back. Thousands — I repeat, thousands — of cans will be hand placed and built in some of the most creative ways you will not believe.
However, this is not just a one day event — they’re going to be doing stuff all week long.
“Today is an exciting day,” said Denice Walton, RIFA Director of Development. “This is the build out day where all the teams from around the community roll off these big pallets, as you can see, of cans to get ready to build their structures. That is today. Build out day. Tomorrow is the judging of these structures. Thursday night is our big celebration where we give out the awards and celebrate with a meal, and our entertainment.”
This is not just stacking cans in your cupboard or your pantry, or putting them into a nice looking pyramid. This is weeks worth of work, planning, and practice to get to the final product.
“The process, I didn’t know it would be so intensive,” said Julia Ewoldt Stooksberry, Community Engagement Manager for Hitachi Energy. “I figured we would go in and pick a design and say, ‘Okay, this is what we want to build.’ And then part of you thinks, ‘Okay, it will magically appear.’ But that’s not what happened. We had 20 engineers come in a room together and deduct what we wanted to build.”
And this is not just RIFA’s biggest event of the year. This is one of the biggest events you will see in all of West Tennessee all year. So many people are involved, and so many organizations are involved. That is the reason why this event is so great and successful year after year.
“Well, we have folks who care,” Walton said. “We have a lot of folks around us who have big hearts and are concerned about their friends who are struggling with food insecurity. We are so grateful. At RIFA, last year, we distributed 610,000 meals, and that is a lot of food. There’s no way we could do it alone. Folks who come alongside us, people who partner with us just mean the world.”
Of course, at the end of this event, all of the cans and the food will be donated to RIFA to go to people in need.
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