C.A.N.S. Around the Oval

C.A.N.S. Around The Oval is a 37-year-old CSU tradition, occurring mid-September to mid-October, and is geared toward raising awareness about food insecurity and collecting donations for the Food Bank for Larimer County.  The food bank not only serves the county at-large but our local campus community via the Rams Against Hunger program. To enhance the quality and quantity of food and better meet community needs, C.A.N.S. or “cash and nutritious staples” (including online monetary donations and healthy, non-perishable food items) are now asked from donors rather than only canned food.  There are multiple ways to creatively, collaboratively, and consciously “CANtribute” to help relieve food insecurity for fellow Rams and our local Northern Colorado neighbors.  Read on to learn more about them.

Check back September 2023 to REGISTER A TEAM FOR C.A.N.S. 2024! 

Stay tuned for IMPORTANT DATES for Fall 2024 C.A.N.S. Around The Oval!

Fall 2023 Totals:
$50,240.75
16,178.52lbs of food

Learn more about C.A.N.S.

CANtribute

Click here to get involved!




Hunger Awareness

Current facts, figures, and narratives of food insecurity and hunger on campus, in Larimer County, nationally, and globally.

C.A.N.S. History & Results

This CSU tradition began with the vision of one CSU Ram and has evolved over the last 36 years through collaboration between the Food Bank for Larimer County and SLiCE!

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Raise At Least $60,000 
  • Collect At Least 15,000 Pounds of Non-Perishable Nutritious Food
  • Spread Awareness about food security

Anyone! Typically:

  • CSU Colleges/Departments (i.e. College of Agricultural Sciences, History Department, Vice President for Research)
  • CSU Student Groups (i.e. student organization, advisory council, residence hall floor, etc.)
  • Community Groups (i.e. local businesses, non-profits, governmental-based organizations, faith-based community organizations, family/friends of CSU)
  • Local Schools (i.e. K-12, Poudre School District, charter schools, home schools)
  • Individuals: students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members
  • Monday, September 18th: C.A.N.S. Around the Oval kicks off
  • Throughout the months of September and October: CANversations, series of informative dialogues around food security programming at CSU and in the Northern Colorado region
  • Wednesday, October 18th: C.A.N.S. around the Oval event and all final online donations to be submitted no later than 5:00pm [MST].

Teams could compete internally, externally, and overall.  Teams could challenge their coworkers, school rivals, and/or friends while trying to raise the most funds and give the most food – and enjoy the friendly competition along the way.  Teams consisted of 2 or more people.  Registered teams competed with all other registered teams, and within their own category.  The four categories this year were: CSU Colleges/Departments, CSU Student Groups, Community Groups, and Local Schools.  Teams chose their category and any optional team challenges they wanted to pursue in their registration form.

C.A.N.S. Friendly-Competition Point System

  • 5 points = per pound of food donated during the C.A.N.S. Around the Oval event
  • 10 points = per dollar donated (whether cash, coin, check, or ideally online)
  • 25 points = per team member who attended a “CANversation” 

Dollars sure make a difference, since every $1 donated equals 2 meals of food that CAN be provided to Food Bank for Larimer County clients.  But, each year, donated food from C.A.N.S. Around The Oval provides variety to the other food offerings at the CSU’s Food Pantry and the Food Bank for Larimer County’s other food share programs.  So both are great!  If you gave food this year, we thank you for your generosity of providing nourishing and nutritous foods!

For those who were able and interested in donating nutritious staples, we encouraged donations of peanut butter, beans, pasta and rice – as they are favorites at CSU’s Food Pantry.  The Food Bank for Larimer County additionally seeks canned proteins, canned fruit, macaroni and cheese, and cereal.  Practically all food items were accepted, except the following: food in glass jars, frozen foods, home-canned foods, perishable food and foods that have been previously served or heated.

All food donated to C.A.N.S. Around The Oval goes to either the Food Bank for Larimer County directly and to one of its food share programs on CSU’s campus – including CSU’s Food Pantry, part of SLiCE’s Rams Against Hunger multi-faceted program.  The food bank’s mission is to provide food to all in need through community partnerships and hunger-relief programs.  They are a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest food bank and food rescue network, and are the only Feeding America clearinghouse for donated food in Larimer County.

To learn more about how the food bank works and the pathway of how food is received, safely stored, and distributed, click here.

Thank you to all who financially donated!  For every $1 donated, the Food Bank can tranform that donation into two meals.  Thus, dollars sure made a difference!  Whether you donated cash, coin, check, or online – all donors would have received a receipt from SLiCE or the Food Bank for Larimer County for tracking purposes. All donations to the Food Bank for Larimer County are tax-deductible as provided by law.  No goods or services will be returned to the donor in exchange for their donation.  Since all proceeds from C.A.N.S. Around The Oval go directly to the Food Bank for Larimer County, they handle the issuing of these receipts, not SLiCE.

Depending on your donation type, the process and timeline to receive a tax receipt can differ.  All online donors should have immediately received an email receipt a few minutes after submitting their donation online from the Food Bank for Larimer County.  Donors who made cash, check, coin, or food donations and wanted a tax receipt from the Food Bank for Larimer County, were asked for additional information by SLiCE staff to be shared with the food bank after the 30-day-long food/fund drive ended.  This process will take some time, and all donors who wanted to go this route will receive information via email.

Totals will be carefully tabulated and shared by the Rams Against Hunger Team in the days following the CANS Around the Oval event.

Please contact the Basic Needs Program Coordinator, Kathryn Conrad