Cans Around the Oval shatters record

CSU’s Cans Around the Oval, the largest food drive in Northern

Colorado, collected 83,633 pounds of food on Thursday, shattering

last year’s record of over 60,000 pounds of food.

Even before the 10 a.m. starting time, children, students and

Fort Collins community members gathered around the Oval for the

17th annual Cans Around the Oval and cars were still dropping off

food donations at the 4 p.m. ending time.

“I’m so tired I can’t even think,” said co-coordinator Jessica

Goldberger, a junior environmental health major. “I’m really

excited and I feel great. This was a lot bigger than we thought it

would be.”

Wendie Robinson, director of the Larimer County Food Bank, said

the Food Bank relies heavily upon the annual donations from Cans

Around the Oval.

“We are seeing people that were donating last year coming in for

food at the Food Bank this year,” Robinson said. “We’ve seen a 32

percent increase in demand for food and we are really seeing a

fallout from the economy. This event generates an abundance of

food, which is direly needed.”

CSU President Larry Penley helped place the first cans around

the Oval to officially begin the food drive and emphasize the

event’s importance.

“This is a significant event because the problem of hunger is

not just a problem overseas, it is a problem in our country and it

is a problem in Larimer County,” Penley said. “It is a good example

of our major commitment to service.”

Ten-year-old Jake Hubel, a fifth-grader at Bauder Elementary

School, contributed over a hundred cans to Cans Around the Oval.

Hubel sheepishly admitted that he missed school for the morning to

come and help line the Oval with cans.

“I brought in 107 cans ’cause I got a big black barrel and went

around asking people for cans,” Hubel said. “I did it to win (a

school raffle) to come here and to help people that are in need of

food.”

On the CSU campus many individuals contributed canned food to an

organization and then an organization representative brought the

food to the Oval on Thursday.

“I’m bringing all the cans from Chi Omega,” said Courtney Ives,

a senior human development and family studies major. “We try to win

every year. This year every girl had to bring 40 cans, which

amounts to about 4,000 cans.”

Different groups on campus competed to bring in the most cans

and to win the first-place traveling trophy named Burt, a trophy

made entirely out of empty tins and cans.

Last year Newsom Hall won the competition by collecting 8,654

pounds of food, but this year had to surrender the first-place

trophy to the Student Recreation Center, which collected 9,187

pounds of food.

“Our goal is to get first place and show that our house can

support the most and help out those in need the most,” Ives

said.

Robinson encourages the competition of the event because of the

outcome it provides.

“I want to express my appreciation of the entire CSU community,”

Robinson said. “This is a huge effort and we really appreciate it.

I think that it is fun – a little competition is always great

motivation.”