Flathead food drive to build canned houses

Pallets of donated peas, beans and tomatoes arrived at Kalispell Center Mall Wednesday morning in preparation for the upcoming “Houses for Hunger” food drive.

Starting Friday, mall shoppers will be able examine the architecture represented by companies from the Flathead Valley. The event features a handful of area architects teamed with local businesses competing to build the best structure — made of canned food.

The structures will be on display for shoppers to vote for their favorite for a week for the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors Charitable Foundation’s CANdemonium event with the theme, “Houses for Hunger.”

After the event ends on Oct. 16, the constructed cans will be allocated to food banks around the Flathead Valley.

CANdemonium is put on each year in Missoula by the local food banks. Area businesses pair with architects to build structures out of cans of food, taking the shapes of houses or cartoon characters.

In March, Park Side Federal Credit Union of Whitefish participated with its Missoula branch. Noreen Cady, business development manager for Park Side, enjoyed the idea enough to bring it back to the Flathead Valley. Park Side teamed with the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors to bring the event to Kalispell.

“It’s a really robust and good way to raise food for the area food banks,” Cady said.

Teams will build structures from cans brought in from Albertsons, Smith’s and Walmart. Teams are limited to build from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday at the mall.

The public will have a week to vote, for $1, on their favorite structure on display at the mall. After the voting period, the canned food and voting fees will be distributed to area food banks, Cady said. The deconstruction and awards will be on Oct. 16.

“It’s incredible,” said Bob Helder of the Flathead Food Bank. “It’s restocking our shelves after a hard summer. Right now is the lowest we’ve ever been.”

According Helder, 18 percent of Flathead County residents have food insecurity. The Montana average is about 16 percent.

Albertsons is providing the canned food at 10 percent over cost, while local architects volunteer the time to do computer-aided design drawings to construct the can structures.

Brad Kastelitz, an engineer for Morrison-Maierle, Inc., said the cause is worth the extra time and effort put into the event.

“It’s a little like building with blocks,” Kastelitz said. “You can figure out the size of a can and what structure you want to build and just start placing blocks.”

Morrison-Maierle and Park Side have decided to bulid a castle.

Park Side and Morrison Maierle were partners for the Missoula event and will repeat the collaboration on Friday.

Other local businesses participating in the event include Jackola Architects and Engineers, J.E. Engineering, Ron Terry Construction, Glacier Bank, First Montana Bank, Mann Mortgage and Insured Titles.

Kara Erickson, office manager at J.E. Engineering, said it has been a fun process creating the designs for their structure as well as becoming more aware of the hunger issue in the Flathead valley.

“It’s been really fun to put our experience in design and building and put it to use for a great cause,” Erickson said. “It’s really tapped into our creative side and made us more aware of the food banks’ needs.”

First Montana Bank purchased 720 cans, Park Side bought 1,295, Jackola got 2,528, Ron Terry Construction has 1,200 and Glacier Bank purchased 2,463 cans. J.E. Engineering purchased the most cans — just over 3,000, according to Erickson. After deconstruction, the cans will be allocated to the Whitefish, Columbia Falls, Bigfork, Lakeside, Flathead and Northwest Montana Veterans food banks. There will also be bins available at the mall for individuals to donate.

On Wednesday, event organizers watched as a CHS-volunteered fork lift brought in cans, pallet by pallet. The structures will be placed in twos throughout the mall.

“Every pound matters,” Helder said.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.