ASHEBORO — An exercise in the artistic stacking of cans, boxes and packages — also known as the 2017 Food Sculpture Contest — is under way to restock the shelves at the Christians United Outreach Center (CUOC).
Those who enter had best be outrageously creative. Past entrants have fashioned a fort, a train, a church and Noah’s ark from prepackaged foodstuffs.
Asheboro’s First United Methodist Church took top honors in the first contest with an entry entitled “They Brought The Food Two By Two.” Last year’s big winner, from Tabernacle Elementary School, was a box of crayons that reached nearly to the ceiling.
“The ones that have entered have done amazing things,” said Debbie Cole, CUOC’s executive director. “We had a church one year that built their church out of food.”
The deadline to complete a sculpture, take a picture of it and enter the contest is April 19.
Filling a need
According to the CUOC website, more than 21,000 Randolph County residents are “food insecure,” which means that the person may not know where their next meal is coming from at any given time. The number comes from a hunger study done by Feed America, a national organization that monitors hunger in America.
CUOC partners with local restaurants and grocery stores, Second Harvest Food Bank, the United Way of Randolph County, the faith community, local farmers and many other local partners to provide nutritious food for clients. And, of course, there are individual donations.
People in need of food “shop” in the pantry, picking food their family needs and likes (within guides and limits).
Cole came up with the sculpture contest idea a few years back to spur donations during a time of year when giving is typically slow.
“In the summer, we have huge demand, but donations are the lowest,” she said.
One reason demand is greater in the summertime is that children are out of school. One reason donations are down is because people are so busy.
The idea was a good one. The 2016 edition of the food sculpture contest brought in more than 7,200 food items.
Prizes, prizes, prizes
Contributing to fill a need is reason enough to donate to the CUOC food pantry.
CUOC’s Food Sculpture Contest offers further incentives: Cash prizes. And ice cream.
* The winner in the category of food sculptures made using 500-1,000 food items will receive $250 cash and an ice cream party.
* The People’s Choice winner — with a $1,000 cash prize — will come from sculptures that use more than 1,000 cans and/or other food items.
In the early years, winners were picked based on online voting from photographs of the entries posted on Facebook. Cash contributions counted as votes. Last year, the format changed. Competitors rebuilt their sculptures in the center court at Randolph Mall in Asheboro, where people could check them out in person and then vote by donating a non-perishable food item.
* The group that collects the most food during the competition will win an ice cream party even if they do not build a sculpture.
Battle of the schools
Members of Farmer Elementary School’s Service Club, which is for fourth- and fifth-graders, spearhead an annual food drive for CUOC.
Last month, students collected food in conjunction with Random Acts of Kindness Day on Feb. 17. Each class added to its food pyramid as donations came in. The students collected more than 2,700 cans; the winning third-grade class collected 576 cans; one kindergarten class collected 540 cans, another gathered 476 cans.
Most of that food has already been donated to CUOC (although 200 cans were given to the Backpack Pals program — an initiative of Communities In Schools of Randolph County.)
Last year, the school joined the sculpture contest and won an ice cream party. Art teacher Leir Gogenola-Martitegui helped with the design, which was dubbed Fort Farmer. It came complete with a moat, drawbridge and flags flying from its battlements. This year’s entry will be a traffic light with the message “Stop Hunger.”
The Tabernacle Elementary School student council led the charge of a schoolwide effort that brought home the top food sculpture prize last year.
“Everybody joined forces for the common good of feeding people who need it,” said Principal Ceretha Mitchell.
Dionne Currie-Hunsucker, the school counselor, said she saw a flier about the contest and student council members agreed to take on the challenge. Students decided they wanted their entry to represent a school. They chose a crayon box after an online search turned up a picture of a sculpture another group had built.
The students came up with the plan, but adults did the work. This year, the students will handle construction, too. The design is a secret (although the finished piece will represent CUOC), but the goal is not.
“We are going to win again,” Currie-Hunsucker said.
A year ago, the top prize was $750. The folks at Tabernacle School earmarked the money to build three “Buddy Benches” to place on their three playgrounds. The idea behind the benches is to connect students, eliminate loneliness and foster friendship on the playground.
“It’s a positive reinforcement to anti-bullying,” Currie-Hunsucker said.
“Everybody loves competition,” Mitchell said, “but when you can compete and have a better outcome, that’s the kind of competition we want. It’s a great service project.”
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Contest entry forms can be found online at http://ift.tt/2noPcPJ. Click on the Food Sculpture Contest link at the bottom of the homepage. For information, call 336-625-1500. The CUOC food pantry is at the 930 S. Fayetteville St. location. It is open Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; and Thursday, noon-6 p.m. Anyone can help by providing non-perishable food, monetary donations or volunteering. Donate food at the pantry Monday-Thursday, 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m.; and Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Look for the door that says “Food Pantry Donations Here.”
