The castle of cans stood tall, overseeing Hayden Lawn at Tempe campus on Wednesday. There, more than 500 cans linked as one, whether their beans were baked or green, their sodium high or low.
Circle K International at ASU collected cans of food Wednesday for their castle of cans, which went to St. Mary’s Food Bank for National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.
Giving even just a few cans to food banks is important to helping feed those less fortunate who would not be able to get food otherwise, said President of Circle K International at ASU and secondary education and political science senior Amanda Badali.
“During hard economic times, donations go down to a lot of food banks,” she said.
The idea for the castle originated in Williamsburg, Va., at the College of William & Mary chapter of Circle K International, she said.
“The neat thing [about Circle K International] is that you get to exchange ideas on service projects,” she said.
Badali said various organizations and individual contributors donated cans toward the castle, including the Hispanic Research Center and the Residence Hall Association, Badali said.
Matthew Sweeten, who chaired the event, said about a dozen volunteers have helped out with the Castle of Cans.
“I didn’t know how successful it was going to be. I’m very surprised by the turnout,” he said.
The ASU club decided to build the castle two months ago, Badali said. She said they started pushing for cans about a month ago, putting signs up on campus, distributing e-mails on listservs and advertising on Facebook.
Local businesses and student organizations were also contacted for donations and help, Sweeten said.
The Undergraduate Student Government Green Team came to help with the castle’s fortifications. USG provided a moat made of plastic bottles from the various residential halls at the Tempe Campus. A dragon stood guard by the aluminum fortress, forged from recycled paper.
Circle K International at ASU contacted USG Green Team for aid building the castle with recyclable materials, said Matt McCoy, sustainability junior and intern for environmental affairs at USG.
“We kind of collaborated ideas on what we could do with recyclable materials,” he said. For example, he said, they used the plastic bags students brought cans in as well.
Sweeten said the castle had exceeded all of his expectations. “We supplied a lot of these cans, but in the end a lot of people donate.”
ASU’s castle turned out much larger than the castle at William & Mary’s, Badali said.
“It’s way bigger than we could have possibly imagined,” she said. “We’re going to feed so many families. I hope they like sweet peas.”
Reach the reporter at cogino@asu.edu.
