Thank You for Donating to this Year’s Cans Around the Oval

A huge thank you to everyone who donated to this year’s Cans Around the Oval event and once again to CSU for going above and beyond to support the Food Bank for Larimer County and its hunger-relief efforts.

The annual event wrapped up on Wednesday, October 16, with Can Collection Day, where food donations circled the entire Oval as a visual representation of how much can be done to fight hunger when an entire community steps up and works together to collect food and funds. Once sorted, all the food will be distributed primarily to the Food Bank’s community partners, while the monetary donations will be used to fund Food Bank programs like its Fresh Food Share pantries and Nutritious Kitchen

Cans began in 1986 with one graduate student, Victoria Keller. As manager of the original student engagement office, Keller read a journalism student’s proposal of a canned food drive, which sparked the fire for Cans Around the Oval. Keller, wanting to pursue the proposal, contacted the Food Bank’s then Director, Sandy Bowden, who coined the name Cans Around the Oval. Although Sandy was too busy to be involved that first year, Keller and two other students decided to take on the efforts of orchestrating Cans Around the Oval.

Cans Around the Oval has grown to become a Colorado State University tradition, where students, faculty, and staff partner with community members, local media, and area businesses to raise awareness about the issue of hunger, as well as raise food and monetary donations.

In the more than three decades since Cans Around the Oval began, it has evolved to become one of the largest food drives in Larimer County, resulting in more than 2 million donated meals.

Click here to learn more about Cans Around the Oval.