DEMOLISH HUNGER, DESIGN HOPE

PensaCan, the annual event benefitting Manna Food Pantries, is returning to Cordova Mall. PensaCan 2022 is a donation-focused event organized by The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Florida Northwest and Manna, hosted by Cordova Mall in Pensacola. AIA and Manna are seeking to embody and spread the event’s motto, “Demolish Hunger, Design Hope.” For this annual event, local architectural firms, businesses, organizations, clubs, schools and other groups compete by forming teams to create elaborate structures made entirely out of non-perishable food items. The structures will be set up in the common area between Dillard’s and Ross inside of the Cordova Mall for both viewing and judging from September 29 through October 7. At the end of the competition, each of the team’s structures are broken down and the canned food items are then donated to Manna to help support their mission of feeding the hungry in Northwest Florida.

A massive dump truck created by the STOA Architects team

by Nicole Willis

Manna has hosted this communitywide fundraiser for more than ten years and according to Manna Associate Executive Director, Kerri Smayda, the organization has been able to provide more than 41,230 healthy meals to individuals in need throughout Escambia and Santa Rosa counties from donations received through the event.

Smayda and AIA State Director

NWFL and the PensaCan committee head, Joeey Poitevin, expressed a great need for food in the community right now, especially with the recent expiration of the COVID-19 lunch grants in public schools. According to Smayda, many students in the Pensacola area will now have to apply for free or reduced lunches at schools, which can result in some children not being able to eat. This year’s PensaCan event will begin on September 29. The structures will be on display for one week, from their construction on September 29 until their tear down on the morning of October 8. People interested in creating a team of builders have several ways that they can participate in PensaCan–they can build on-site at the Cordova Mall, off-site or digitally online. PensaCan organizers began providing builders with off-site and digital building options out of necessity once the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The donation-centric event is too crucial to Manna’s operations for it to disappear during the pandemic. “PensaCan is a critical food drive, especially going into the holiday season,” Smayda said. Poitevin added, “we did not want to shut this amazing event down.” So, the building process was adapted to allow for PensaCan’s continuation during the pandemic. After seeing success with the off-site and digital building options, PensaCan organizers decided to keep these options available for those who want to participate but cannot make it out to the mall to build on-site. For public viewing and voting purposes, physical displays with images of digital and off-site builds will be put on-site at the mall. Since additional time is required to create an in-person display of digital and off-site submissions, these builds should be completed and submitted by September 9 at 5 pm. Digital builders must follow the same size rule as the physical builders—10’ x 10’ area and a maximum of 10’ high (3m x 3m x 3m). Digital sculptures should be modeled to scale using the dimensions of cans and boxes and should also include images of the product labels. PensaCan organizers suggest several themes of inspiration of their builders, some of which include Disney, Superheroes, and Sports, but they are open to seeing anything and everything that the builders can craft up. Poitevin explained that the structures are a complete surprise to organizers and judges. “It’s always a nice surprise to see what everybody is building. It’s another one of the mystical points of the event,” he remarked. On September 30, the judging process will begin with in-person judging. A panel of judges will walk around and view each display, making notes of which build best fits each category. The categories that all teams are eligible to win include–“Best Nutrition” (the structure that contains as many of the five food groups as possible), “Best Graphics” (the structure that best utilizes the colors, shapes, sizes, etc., of the food labels), “Juror’s Favorite” (the structure that stands above the rest in all aspects), “Honorable Mention” (the structure who deserves recognition, but is not worthy of the top honor) and “Video Production” (the team whose video is the best). There are also two categories that only physical builds (not digital) are eligible to win–the “Most Valuable” (the structure that utilizes the most of Manna’s highly-needed food

items) and “Structural Integrity” (the structure that demonstrates a technically impressive feat). The “People’s Choice Award” is also up for grabs for all teams, but this award has a wider voting pool. This award is exactly what it sounds like, an award chosen by the public. You don’t even need to leave your house to participate in this voting process, though you should visit the mall to look at the incredible structures in-person. Every team is required to create a video showcasing their build. These videos will be posted online for the public to see all of the incredible art that was created and then vote on their favorites. “People’s Choice Award” voting is open to the public and will be accepted online at mannahelps.org starting September 30 through October 7. The awards ceremony will be held at Beyond the Grape in the Cordova Mall on October 11 at 5 pm. PensaCan teams are responsible for purchasing all of the food items for use in their sculpture. Teams can purchase their food items directly from Manna, or on their own. There are no other registration fees or costs associated with participation in PensaCan apart from the food. While teams may purchase and bring their own canned goods, Manna offers an option that is easier than lugging hundreds of heavy cans into the mall on build day. Teams can order canned goods directly from Manna to have all of the heavy lifting done for them. Interested teams should visit aianwfl. wildapricot.org to complete an order form specifying how many units of each item the team will require. Then, on building day, Manna will deliver each team their canned goods at the mall. The order forms are due by September 2 at 5 pm. If a team chooses to purchase food on their own, Manna requires there be no alcohol, glass containers, pet food, expired food or open packages of food. Registration to participate as a builder is open now until September 9 at 5 pm. Anyone can become a builder and participate in PensaCan! This family-friendly event can include everyone from architects and engineers to teachers and students. Local businesses often choose to participate by creating a team with their staff. Don’t have a team but still want to get involved? No worries, you can choose to be placed on a team. There is no limit on how many team members can participate. The more the merrier! “We have anywhere between four and six teams sign up every year. Some of the teams have a lot of help and get their families involved. Some teams have one or two people building on it, and other teams might have 10 people,” Poitevin explained. He added that in previous years, as many as 10 teams have participated. If you want to get involved but don’t want to build, sponsorships and donations are excellent ways to show your support. There are various sponsorship levels available, all of which can be viewed at aianwfl.com. Sponsor forms are due September 9 at 5 pm. Manna will also be accepting

Spongebob created by the Dalrymple Sallis Team

donations directly, at mannahelps. org/donate/money. Use the “in honor of” field to specify your donation towards PensaCan or a specific building team. To learn more about PensaCan, including registering your team and becoming a sponsor, visit aianwfl. wildapricot.org. To donate and keep up with Manna, visit mannahelps.org and follow @mannahelps.org on Facebook.

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