Submitted to OnFocus – MARSHFIELD, WI – The 2021 Leadership Marshfield Class is excited to announce that one of its class projects will bring back “United We Can!” The event will be virtual with canned food sculptures being built on-location at each business, organization or home. Building will take place May 10 – 21, 2021; and the community will have the opportunity to vote on their favorites May 25-28, 2021. Winners will be announced June 1, 2021.
United We Can is a food sculpture contest where businesses, organizations and families build their creations made entirely out of canned and non-perishable food! After the competition, all the food will be donated to Marshfield food programs. This year’s United We Can is a partnership with one of the 2021 Leadership Marshfield groups and Marshfield Area United Way.
We are currently looking for businesses, organizations and/or families to participate! Each team will build a sculpture of non-perishable food items in their workplace or home. Sculptures must be at least 50% non-perishable food items; food items cannot be altered nor can labels be removed; and food items must NOT be expired. Teams who will be building larger sculptures can contact Festival Foods or Pick ‘n Save one week prior to building and they will pull your food together for you. Additionally, these locations will have collection containers for anyone who wants to donate food, but doesn’t wish to build a sculpture.
To enter, simply build your sculpture between May 10 and May 21, 2021, and email your photo to [email protected]. Please include:
- The name of your sculpture
- Name of your business, organization or family
- Number of food items used (for example: 20 cans of corn, 15 boxes of rice, etc.)
- Height of your sculpture
After May 21, participants will be contacted to arrange donation drop off. Food will be distributed to: Soup or Socks, St. Vincent de Paul, and United Way’s NOW Program. Monetary donations can be made on the Soup or Socks website: www.souporsocks.org.
Photos will be posted on the Marshfield Area United Way Facebook page for voting! There will be several awards given out to the winners, including Fan Favorite (251 items or more), Fan Favorite (250 items or less), Tallest Sculpture and Sculpture with the Most Items Used.
Members of the Leadership Marshfield Class who are working on this project include: Becky Cera, Forward Bank; Carlos Escudero, Opportunity Development Centers, Inc.; Angela Loucks, Columbus Catholic Schools; and Stephanie Rasmussen, Marshfield Insurance. The last time a United We Can event was held in Marshfield was in 2019 during Dairy Fest. The 2019 United We Can event was also a Leadership Marshfield project!
Now more than ever, our local food programs are in need of donations! In 2020, Soup or Socks (SOS) served a total of 70,665 meals to 6,191 people. Of these 3,347 were adults and 2,844 were children. SOS experienced its largest concentration of meal distribution between March 13, 2020 and May 28, 2020, when they distributed 44,500 meals to 4,450 people. This increase in need was a result of “Safer at Home,” at which time SOS switched to emergency food boxes instead of in-person service. Additionally, St. Vincent de Paul Outreach served 6,804 fellowship meals in 2020 and distributed 154,836 meals through its Food Pantry.
May is a perfect time to collect donations for local food programs as donations from spring food drives begin to run out and there is a decline of giving in the summer. Some of the most needed items include: cereal, soup, crackers, jelly, peanut butter, bread, canned fruit, pasta, rice and hygiene items (paper towels, shampoo, etc.).
We welcome your stories! Contact us at [email protected]!
