mafue's Flickr photostream/Creative Commons

Canned food drives are an important way for food banks to provide food for those in need, and the Canstruction competition  gives you the chance to help fight hunger and create art at the same time.  Canstruction, founded by the Society of Art and Design in 1992, invites architects, engineers and designers to create sculptures made entirely of donated cans, and when the competition is over, the food will be donated to local food banks in time for Thanksgiving.

Donations are now being accepted for events this year, which will be held in 130 cities in the U.S., Canada, Columbia, Australia and New Zealand, and be placed on exhibition from October 30 to November 15th.  The clever creations from previous competitions have been nothing short of astounding and involved thousands of cans each, which went on to provide much needed meals for so many people. 

I highly recommend that you go check out the competition near you, and be sure to bring along a few cans to donate.  There are also plenty of other ways to get involved including hosting an event, signing up as a design team, and making financial contributions to help fight hunger.  Use the action link below to find out what you can do and watch the video below from last year’s Canstruction exhibition in Los Angeles:

Canstruction 2008 from Jason Lee Wong on Vimeo.