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f you knew your neighbours were having a Itough time financially, you might invite them over for dinner. You may even send leftovers home with them. But what if you didn‘t know they needed help? What if you had never met them before? The food bank hopes to raise 205,500 pounds of food with this drive, which officially ends on April 2, although items will be collected after that. Those are the questions Jay Nijhuis of KOOL FM posed to the crowd gathered for the Food Bank of Waterloo Region‘s spring food drive kickâ€" off at Conestoga Mall last Wednesday. "You can still share a meal with those neighâ€" bours," he said. "A donation to the food bank helps provide safe, nutritious food to approxiâ€" mately 25,000 people in Waterloo Region. Half of those 25,000 are children." And they‘re going about achieving that goal in a different way this year by taking part in Canstruction, a fundraiser in which teams design and construct intricate sculptures made from cans of food. "It‘s the most unique fundraiser we‘ve ever held," said Wendi Campbell, the food bank‘s execâ€" utive director. "We talk a lot about the fact it‘s the collective effort of our community that really helps us reach our goals, and it is definitely, in the case of Canstruction, the collective effort of these amazing teams ... that is not only going to create something beautiful for us to look at, but also raise an awareness about what the food bank does in the community and allow us to add some food donaâ€" tions to our spring food drive goal." This is the first time the local organiâ€" zation has participated in Canstruction, which has been held in communities across North America since 1993. In Waterloo Region, 10 teams of local architects, engineers, designers and stuâ€" dents have signed up for the event, which begins on March 28 when they put together their designs in Conestoga Mall. The mall staff, with the help of MTE Consultants, has already constructed a giant tape measure made with 3,116 cans of food that eventually will go to the food bank. "People need to see for themselves what can be done, in most cases, with Can sculptures raise awareness By Jennirer OrmstoN Chronicle Staff _ Of waTERLOO REGION Sharing with my community. FoodBank | wATERLOG CHRONICLE Please Resycle This Newspaper CS THE more than 3,000 cans of food," Campbell said. "We know what we can do with 3,000 cans of food at the food bank. Now we‘re going to see Continued on page 7 The food bank‘s Wendi Campbell sits by the first Canstruction project at Conestoga Mall. JENNIFER ORMSTON PHOTO WWW.THEBABYDEPOT.CA www.waterloochronicle.ca WW.THEBABYDEI 1373 Victoria St. N. Kitchener WATERLOO CHRONICLE + Wednesday, March 26, 2008 » 5 $ ON ALL INSTOCK BUGABOO CAMELEON STROLLERS