More than 3,300 Food and Hygiene Items Collected to Reduce Food Insecurity
WATERTOWN — The Northern New York Community Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Council is pleased to announce the winners of the fourth “Canstruction for Northern New York” competition to help reduce food insecurity across the region.
Five participating teams combined to collect more than 3,300 canned goods and other nonperishable food items or hygiene products that will help restock school-based backpack programs and community food pantries in Jefferson and Lewis counties. Additionally, the winning teams will share $1,500 in grant awards to present to two different school-based backpack programs that participants selected.
With nearly 700 votes cast, Carthage Middle School’s Builders Club & Student Government entry is the “People’s Choice Award” winner for its sculpture titled “Bee.” The class also won the “Top Collection Award” with 1,792 canned goods and other nonperishable items collected.
Carthage Middle School Classroom Teaching Assistant and Club Advisor Alicia Anderson led efforts again this year to rally student participation from each of the district’s buildings in the competition. Ms. Anderson said her students ran a collection drive contest for three weeks to inspire classes throughout the school to collect food and hygiene items for use in their sculpture.
“Students spent several hours constructing the design during free times and after school,” Ms. Anderson said. “We constructed a beehive surrounded by trees and bees, one of the most crucial stewards in the entirety of our ecosystem. We are very proud of all the students’ hard work, creativity, and their dedication to a theme of kindness and compassion.”
Watertown High School’s Student Council is this year’s winner of the “Best Design Award” for “Turn Hunger on Its Head,” a sculpture of an upside-down cyclone, which was built with 562 collected canned goods and other nonperishable items.
“We wanted to turn hunger on its head,” Student Council Advisor and High School Science Teacher Jennifer Akins said. “For our first year participating in the canstruction competition, we think it went well!”
Ms. Akins said the Student Council held a competition between classes to motivate all students to help collect needed items.
“The winning class will be presented with a $1,000 donation to go toward their senior year fundraising goals,” she said. “Seniors came in first place, donating 168 items, followed by the sophomore class with 152 items. Our juniors were close behind with 140 items donated, followed by the freshman class, donating 102 items.”
Each of the five participating teams will donate all items used to build their sculptures to a local food pantry or backpack program while award winners will each receive a $500 grant for participants to distribute to a nonprofit of their choice.
Carthage Middle School’s Builders Club & Student Government students designated the district’s “Comet Closet” backpack program to receive their collected items. Students also selected the backpack program as the recipient of two $500 grant awards they won for the “People’s Choice Award” and the “Top Collection Award.”
Watertown High’s Student Council designated the district’s Backpack Program, which supports students and families on the weekends, to receive the hundreds of food items they collected as well as the $500 grant for the “Best Design Award.”
Other teams participating in this year’s competition include: Beaver River Central School’s 9th grade Earth science class with “Pack It Up;” First Presbyterian Church of Watertown’s Sunday School Class and Youth Group with “Food Steeple;” and South Jefferson High School’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) chapter with “Be the Light in Someone’s Storm.”
The three teams combined to collect 948 canned goods and other nonperishable food and hygiene items for use in their sculpture. Beaver River Central School’s 9th grade Earth science class will donate its collected items to the Beaver River Backpack Program; First Presbyterian Church of Watertown’s Sunday School Class and Youth Group will donate its collected items to the Watertown Urban Mission food pantry; and the South Jefferson High School’s Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) chapter will donate its collected items to the South Jefferson Backpack Program.
“Canstruction for Northern New York” encouraged tri-county students to team up and build a fun, themed structure made of donated canned food and other nonperishable food items or hygiene products to support a local food pantry or backpack program of their choice and help reduce food insecurity across the region.
The Foundation’s LEAD Council held the first “Canstruction” competition in 2023 and continued the initiative until 2025 before handing it off to the Youth Philanthropy Council to lead. Over four years, 25 teams from across the region have participated, collecting nearly 16,200 canned goods and other nonperishable food and hygiene items that have been donated to local food pantries and school-based backpack programs.
Participating students had a chance to support essential needs for tri-county residents while learning values of community philanthropy and building school spirit around a project that made a meaningful difference in the lives of others. The project helped raise awareness about hunger and food insecurity in local communities and empowered students to collaborate and inspire their school and community.
About the Youth Philanthropy Council
The Youth Philanthropy Council is an advisory committee of the Community Foundation. It was chartered in 2010 to promote positive youth development and leadership while engaging young people in meaningful activities that build their skills and deepen their understanding of community needs and philanthropy and its impact on Northern New York. Council members grow to become critical thinkers as they engage in lessons that may never be taught in a classroom.
Since its inception in 2010, the Youth Philanthropy Council has awarded 155 grants totaling $285,070 in support to nonprofit organizations that serve residents of Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties. In the past 15 years, nearly 170 students representing eight Northern New York high schools have served or are presently serving on the Youth Philanthropy Council.
This year’s Youth Philanthropy Council includes 14 student delegates from Carthage, General Brown, Immaculate Heart, Lyme, and South Jefferson central schools, and Watertown High School. Council members are in their junior, or senior years.
About the Northern New York Community Foundation
Since 1929, the Northern New York Community Foundation has invested in improving and enriching the quality of life for all in communities across Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties.
Through partnerships with businesses and organizations, charitable foundations, and generous families and individual donors, the Community Foundation awards grants and scholarships from an endowment and collection of funds that benefit the region. Its commitment to donors helps individuals achieve their charitable objectives now and for generations to come by preserving and honoring legacies of community philanthropy while inspiring others.
The Community Foundation is a resource for local charitable organizations, donors, professional advisors and nonprofit organizations. It also works to bring people together at its permanent home in the Northern New York Philanthropy Center to discuss challenges our communities face and find creative solutions that strengthen the region and make it a great place to live, work, and play.
