Melville Firm Fights Hunger with Care Bear

A Melville company is canning hunger with the help of a well-known bear.

H2M is one of 20 Long Island design and construction firms that competed in CANstruction Long Island 2011, a design and build competition, which portrays the theme of ending hunger in the community.

The Melville firm designed the “Care-A-Lot Can Bear” display, which features a giant Care Bear and rainbow made with 6,675 cans, earning the company the “Most Cans Award.”

Other designs included a life-sized Chess Set, Snoopy and Woodstock, a train, Pac Man and the Freedom Tower, to name a few. Teams designed, planned, fundraised and shopped for their creations for months, but had less than 24 hours to build the final structures at RXR Plaza in Uniondale.

All cans of food were donated to Long Island Cares, The Harry Chapin Food Bank to help feed the hungry on Long Island.  Many of the participating teams donated excess funds they had raised, resulting in a $3,100 cash donation to the organization, as well.

The five annual Canstruction Long Island events held since 2007 have donated over 193,000 cans of food to help feed those in need in Nassau and Suffolk County.