2011 CANstuction Awards:

Jurors’ Favorite: Leo A Daly

Structural Ingenuity: HDR

Best Meal: David M Schwarz Architects

Best Use of Labels: AECOM

Honorable Mention: Hartman-Cox Architects

Honorable Mention: Wiencek + Associates, Architects + Planners

People’s Choice: Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.

(To view the winning CANstructions, click here.)

And what a year it was! The 19 participating teams braved Hurricane Irene on August 27th to construct the remarkable and creative structures made entirely from canned goods. This annual design competition gives a new meaning to playing with your food!

For the first time, CANstruction was held at the National Building Museum. The public was invited to watch as the teams worked together to create the structures they had envisioned, can by can.  Did you miss it? Click here to watch the build out in less than three minutes!

Over the course of a week, the public was able to vote for their favorite CAN-structure by placing a nonperishable food donation into one of the 19 Capital Area Food Bank collection boxes, placed in front of each structure. This year, the public was also able to vote online by making a donation to the Capital Area Food Bank.  

After the official judging was complete, the teams dismantled their designs. All canned goods were donated to the Capital Area Food Bank. In total, we received over 47,000 pounds of food and just over $4,000 in online donations. This incredible donation will allow us to provide nearly 49,000 meals to children, seniors and families at risk of hunger in our community.

Thank you to all 19 firms that participated in the much anticipated CANstruction.

URS Corporation

SmithGroupJJR

Robert Silman Associates

EYP Architecture and Engineering

CLARK NEXSEN

HOK

Rippeteau Architects, PC

HARTMAN-COX ARCHITECTS

Wiencek + Associates

RTKL

GENSLER

GPI/ Greenman-Pedersen, Inc.

Cannon Design

AECOM

MV + A Architects

Stantec Architecture Inc.

LEO A DALY

HDR Architecture

David M. Schwarz Architects

We are so thankful for your support!

Read more here!

The Capital Area Food Bank is partnering with Plum District to raise money for our organization.

The busiest people in the community—moms—are often the most plugged-in.  And for them, the Internet is often the best tool to (re)discover what’s in their own backyard.  Plum District was created just for them.  Plum District connects moms with daily deals and inspirations from businesses in their community, and helps them get the most out of their day—for their families and for themselves.

Sign up now for daily offers from your local favorites. Just click on the link below:

Plum District will donate $3 to the Capital Area Food Bank for each new subscription using the link above.

Fundraiser ends August 28, 2011

Thanks for supporting Capital Area Food Bank!

Now through July 24^th, Safeway is providing a quick and easy way to make a difference in your community.  While visiting your local Safeway store, pick up a pre-filled bag of groceries at the Help Us End Hunger display, purchase the bag full of food for $10 and place it in the Capital Area Food Bank collection box at the front of the store. The bags will be donated to the CAFB and distributed to those in need.

Each bag contains: Spaghetti, Canned Tomatoes, Canned Vegetables, Toasted Oats Cereal, Macaroni and Cheese, Creamy Peanut Butter, Instant Mashed Potatoes, Chunk Light Tuna.

Stop by one of the five Safeway locations below this Saturday, July 16th between 11am and 3pm to see our CAFB volunteers in action!

1. 5200 Randolph Road Rockville, MD 20852
2.  6500 Piney Branch Road, NW Washington DC
3.  1100 4^th St SW, Washington DC
4.  3526 King St, Alexandria, VA
5.  6244 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA

You can make a difference by donating a much needed bag of food now through July 24^th at your local Safeway store!

Want to learn more about volunteering at the Capital Area Food Bank? Click here.

DelCor started the .org Community Food Drive nine years ago because we wanted to increase our community impact.  That first year, we collected a ton of food.

Last year, our 8^th, we decided to give our participants another way to support the Capital Area Food Bank.  Many of our association partners work downtown and aren’t comfortable lugging food on the Metro.  So, we accepted monetary donations to the food bank – and increased our collection to nearly 14 tons.

Heading into this year, our 9^th, we were looking for additional ways to give, and our timing was incredibly fortuitous.  With the tireless help of Food Resources Coordinator Molly McGlinchy, we launched our first “virtual” food drive – in fact, the food bank’s first – to complement our existing food and monetary donations.

The results were absolutely astounding.

For the second year in a row, we experienced a 68 percent increase in donations.  The online contributions alone netted nearly 12 tons – nearly half of our 23-ton haul this year!  In nine years, we’ve collected nearly 60 tons of food to help feed our neighbors throughout the region.

More than half of the 38 organizations participating in our 9^th Annual .org Community Food Drive used the online donation tool to increase their collections.  One contributor summed it up nicely:

“The online system made it easy.  I had no idea each dollar could provide so many meals!  I guess it makes sense though.  I just gave money since the people who know how to make it stretch further are the experts and they can feed far more than my bag of groceries ever could.”

It really is true.  A pound of food equals one meal. But a dollar – whether given in person or online – equals three meals.  In the two years we’ve accepted monetary donations to the food bank through our food drive, we’ve nearly tripled our impact.  That’s due largely to the ability to give online.

Still, we recognize that the act of selecting, purchasing, and even lugging food donations is very important to some.  The physical act of giving can be especially meaningful.  It’s important for us to include and appreciate everyone who gives, however they give, because it’s only all together that we are able to make so much difference to the food bank and the hundreds of thousands of people they serve.  We are humbled to contribute each year through our drive.

There are so many ways to support the food bank, and we embrace them all.  We are glad to continue our support, and to extend it through the new online tools (especially since we’re a technology company).  If you’re thinking about running your own food drive, give it a try and increase your impact, too!

Are you interested in coordinating a food drive, but don’t have the time? Try a virtual food drive! This fast, easy, fun (and environmentally friendly) alternative to traditional food drives is now available!  If you are interested, please click here for more information!

Mark your calendar! The 19th Annual National Association Of Letter Carriers’ Food Drive is this Saturday,  May 14th.  You can help nourish those struggling with hunger  in three easy steps:

1. Collect a bag full of non-perishable foods.
2. Leave the bag at your mailbox on Saturday, May 14^th - your local letter carrier will pick up the donations and deliver them to the Capital Area Food Bank.
3. Spread the Word – Remind everyone you know to leave a bag of non-perishable food by their mail boxes. Use Facebook and Twitter to encourage others to help too!  Click here for more information.

Most Need Items:

• peanut butter
• canned meat and fish
• canned fruit and vegetables
• cereal

Last year, the Capital Area Food Bank distributed over 27 million pounds of food, including 10.8 million pounds of fresh produce.  We need your support to feed our neighbors in need, so don’t forget to leave your canned goods by your mail box this Saturday!

Remind your friends, family, neighbors and coworkers to do the same.

On Friday, March 18^th Adam Lowy and Jason Taetsch from Move For Hunger visited the Capital Area Food Bank!  Founded by the Lowy Family, Move For Hunger – a nonprofit organization that links local moving companies with food banks – encourages clients to donate unopened food during the moving process and offers to deliver their donations directly to local food banks.  Learn more about this growing organization here.

These two ambitious young men were awarded a $10,000 grant from Ford Motor Company to take their show on the road as part of the Focus Global Test Drive: Start More Than A Car Campaign!  Adam and Jason are using their 2012 Ford Focus to take a 28-day tour across the United States to tell the story of hunger.  Not only are they visiting food banks and partner moving companies, but they are also blogging, tweeting and uploading videos along the way.

During their visit, Adam and Jason had a chance to chat with our Chief Operations Officer Mark McCaffrey and Director of Individual Giving Claudia Morris.  Click here to watch the brief and informative interviews.

Because of Adam and Jason’s work, our Northern Virginia branch is lucky enough to receive donations from four local moving companies: Eureka Van & Storage Co., Inc., Olympia Moving and Storage Company, Executive Moving Systems, Inc. and Bayshore Moving & Storage.  These generous companies collect food from clients and deliver donations to our Lorton, VA location on a regular basis.

Check out Adam and Jason’s blog as they make their way across the country!

Any plans for this weekend? Why don’t you join Noodles and Company in supporting the Capital Area Food Bank!  On Sunday, March 27th and Monday, March 28th Noodles and Company is offering a free bowl of their signature Mac and Cheese or one of their new special flavors in exchange for a donation of three boxes of macaroni and cheese!

So run on over to your local grocery store, pick up three boxes of your favorite macaroni and cheese, and visit a participating Noodles and Company store!  What a delicious way to support your community!

Participating locations:
- Arlington (Pentagon Row, Crystal City, Ballston Commons)
- Fairfax
- Vienna
- Alexandria (Alexandria, Kingstowne and Mt. Vernon)
- Manassas
- Falls Church (Merrifield)

The Capital Area Food Bank is in need of 15,000 to 20,000 square feet of dry warehouse storage in the Metropolitan Area.  We are running out of storage space and need your help!

With reports of declining food donations across the country, you may be wondering why we need more space.  Here are five reasons why!

1. In order to purchase food at a discounted rate, we purchase tractor-truck loads of food at a time.  This allows us to buy food at a bottom dollar, but it also means finding space to store all of that food!
2. With the 25 percent increase in the number of individuals served by the Capital Area Food Bank, the need for food has increased over the past four years.  In 2010, CAFB distributed 27 million pounds of food (10.8 million pounds of produce) in our community!  Unfortunately, our little warehouse is not able to expand to meet our needs.
3. We are planning to move into our new warehouse in April, 2012 which will allow us to provide even MORE food to our community.  However, we just broke ground- so it maybe another year to eighteen months before we can make the transition.  We need more space now!
4. The donated storage space we have been using is no longer available, since the building was sold to a new owner and construction has begun!
5. Our volunteers need room to sort food, pack boxes and work on special projects.  If we store food in their space, they will have nowhere to go!

So if you have any extra storage space or know someone who does, we would be so grateful!  Please call Mark Jacquez at 202.526.5344 ext. 305.

Here is an easy way to gear up for Valentine’s Day and share a little love with your local food bank.

This Saturday, February 12th from 9 AM – 12 PM stop by a participating Safeway store to make a much needed food donation as part of the Harvest for Hungry Food Drive.  As you make your weekly grocery store visit, pick up a few extra items and share with the 641,000 residents in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area at risk of hunger.

We will have volunteers and Coldwell Banker agents on site to distribute our Most Wanted list and collect donations at the following Safeway Stores:

1100 4^th Street S.W., Washington, DC

3526 King St, Alexandria, VA

490 L Street N.W., Washington, DC

5200 Randolph, Rockville, MD

6244 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA

14939 Shady Grove Rd, Rockville, MD

Don’t forget to share the love this Saturday between 9 AM – 12 PM!