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Community Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Council
Announces Winners of Fourth ‘Canstruction’ Competition
Published: April 19, 2026 at
10:15 a.m.
By: Press Release from Northern New York Community
Foundation
Foundation’s Youth Philanthropy Council Announces
Winners of Fourth ‘Canstruction’ Competition
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.
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Carthage MS Canstruction Project
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Watertown HS Canstruction Project
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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 JeffersonHigh
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.
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