Long Island Design Firm Wins International Charity Competition

MELVILLE, NY — H2M architects + engineers, a Northeast consulting and design firm based in Melville, recently won the 2024 Canstruction International Competition in the category of Best Original Design, the company announced.

Founded in 1992, Canstruction is an international charity competition in which teams of architects,
engineers, and contractors build large, vibrant structures entirely out of canned goods. The
structures are put on public display and voted on, with winners of the citywide competitions moving
on to the international competition. After the structures are taken down, the canned goods used to
build them are sent to food banks in the community.

H2M’s design, inspired by the Shel Silverstein book, "The Giving Tree," comprised nearly 7,800 cans of food.

At the 18th Annual Canstruction Long Island Awards, the sculpture received honors for Best
Original Design and Most Cans. Canstruction participants across the globe collected and donated
1.175 million pounds of food and raised more than $640K in cash donations, with more than $20K and 49,000 cans from the Long Island region going to food banks such as Island Harvest, Interfaith Nutrition Network, Long Island Cares, and The NEST.

"Canstruction is not just a great opportunity to give back the community, it’s also a valuable way to
build trust, teamwork, and leadership skills among our team members," said Rich Humann, H2M president and CEO, in a news release. "We’re proud to bring to Canstruction the same spirit of innovation and collaboration that we do to all of our projects, and we thank Canstruction leadership and staff for helping mold our passion for design into yet another way to help those in need."

To learn more about Canstruction and its mission of ending hunger in the U.S. and abroad, people may visit the organization’s website.

Patch has partnered with Feeding America since 2020 to help raise awareness in our local communities of hunger, a persistent national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks and 60,000 local meals programs across the country, estimates that nearly 34 million people, including 9 million children — about 1 in 6 Americans — are living with food insecurity. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.