Several teammates from Balfour Beatty’s Mid-Atlantic Division recently competed in Canstruction, an annual charity event in which teams from different companies build structures made entirely out of canned food. The public exhibition is held at the National Building Museum where the sculptures can be viewed and judged by museum visitors. Following the week-long display period and crowning of the winning team, all of the cans are dismantled and donated to the Capitol Area Food Bank.

Balfour Beatty project managers Tim Boerschlein, John Tillar, Derek Bauer and Ben Chon teamed up with Fentress Architects to participate in this year’s competition. The team worked together in all phases of the effort including developing the design, raising money from subcontractors to purchase the food cans, creating t-shirts for the team and constructing the “cansculpture” – the Oscar Meyer WIENERMOBILE. The Balfour Beatty team exceeded their initial fundraising goals and were instrumental in the successful construction of the sculpture after collaborating with Fentress and subcontractors for more than six months prior to the event. Ultimately the Capital Area Food Bank collected nearly 70,000 pounds of food to donate.

It was great to work on such a worthwhile cause that benefits our community“It was great to work on such a worthwhile cause that benefits our community while also getting a chance to build a relationship with the architecture firm off of the jobsite. It was also a unique way to showcase the caliber of people we have at Balfour Beatty,” Tim Boerschlein said.

Canstruction events are held annually around the world including North America, Australia, South America, Europe and Asia. The organization has donated nearly 30 million pounds of food since 1992.