CHARLESTON, W.Va.
— Charleston residents won’t have to book a flight to Italy to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa, at least for the next few days. The third annual Canstruction Competition is going on this week in Charleston to benefit the Covenant House Food Pantry. The contest is supported by the West Virginia chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The trademark charity event is produced nationwide by the Society of Design Administration. The event teams architects, engineers and contractors together to construct structures made entirely of canned food. It started out three years ago as a fun, creative way to help the Charleston community, but has now become a way to meet a real need, organizers said. “Thank goodness for the cans collected because without this event I don’t know how we’d keep food in our pantry,” said Amy Weintraub, director of the Covenant House. “The issue for us now is that last year the event gave us six months of food, but the need in the community has grown,” she said. “We are seeing people now who have never turned to the food pantry before.” This is due to joblessness and inflation, especially at the grocery store, Weintraub said.
In 2006, the Covenant House had 1,010 people enter its doors, and in two years it has almost doubled with 1,944 people.