The LEAD Council of the Northern New York Community Foundation invites local students at tri-county schools and organized student groups in Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties to participate in an impactful and creative project to help reduce food insecurity across the North Country.

The “Canstruction for Northern New York” initiative is back for a second year as a group activity to encourage students to team up and construct a fun, themed structure made of donated canned food and other nonperishable food items or hygiene products to support a local food pantry or backpack program of their choice.

Joining the competition is easy through an online registration at bit.ly/RegisterCanstruction. Teams must register to participate by Friday, Feb. 16, and select the local food pantry or backpack program that will receive team donations.

Participating students will have a chance to support essential needs for local residents while learning the values of community philanthropy and building school spirit around a project that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. Overall, the project aims to raise awareness about hunger and food insecurity in our communities. The initiative will empower students to collaborate and inspire their school and community to join in the effort.

Examples of construction projects may be found on the project web page at bit.ly/CanstructionNNY.

Canstruction teams will compete for one of three chances to present a $500 grant to a nonprofit they care about most. A winning team will be named in the following three categories: “Top Collection Award” (most items donated/collected), “Best Design Award,” and “People’s Choice Award” (selected by an online vote).

Last year, three top teams combined to collect 1,665 canned food and other nonperishable food items or hygiene products that helped restock two school-based backpack programs and a community food pantry.

Winning teams shared $1,750 in grant awards that were presented to three different local nonprofit organizations that participants selected.

Like last year, each winning team will award a $500 grant to their chosen fed erally classified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving residents of Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties. Contact Max DelSignore, Community Foundation assistant director, at max@nnycf.org for additional guidelines on nonprofit selection.

All canstruction projects must be submitted by Friday, April 5. Complete project rules, including a sample planning calendar with key project deadlines, is available on the project web page at bit.ly/CanstructionNNY.

The Community Foundation will provide a follow-up form to each registrant explaining the process for project submissions.