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Can-do spirit helps feed hungry in Greater Victoria

Christopher Mavrikos helps feed Victoria’s most vulnerable citizens — one can at a time — thanks to Canstruction, an annual canned-food sculpture competition that continues until Monday at Hillside Shopping Centre.
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Christopher Mavrikos, executive director of The Dahlia Society, shows off a Canstruction creation at Hillside Shopping Centre on Thursday, May 9, 2019.

Christopher Mavrikos helps feed Victoria’s most vulnerable citizens — one can at a time — thanks to Canstruction, an annual canned-food sculpture competition that continues until Monday at Hillside Shopping Centre.

The event, which sees teams create structures made entirely of cans of food, is in its sixth year. This year’s theme in Under the Sea.

Each team will typically use up to 10,000 cans for a project. At the end of the competition, the cans are donated to the Victoria Mustard Seed, which often runs low at this time of year.

Passersby are invited to vote for The People’s Choice — the entry fee is a minimum of five cans or a $5 donation.

“If 5,000 people brought five cans of food, we could donate 25,000 cans to the Mustard Seed,” said Mavrikos, founder of The Dahlia Society, which hosts the event. “At its core, Canstruction is an opportunity for people to come together to help one another.”

In the last five years, the event has collected more than $570,000 worth of food and funds to alleviate hunger.

Saturday is Family Can Day, with a scavenger hunt, appearances by several mascots and face painting. At a Kids Zone, children can build their own structures out of foam shapes.

You can see the structures during regular mall hours until Monday in the Centre Court of Hillside Shopping Centre, 1644 Hillside Ave.

For details or to donate, go to thedahliasociety.com/canstruction.

parrais@timescolonist.com