Disneyland cast members came together for the good of the community and to have a little bit of fun. Disney VoluntEARS from Disneyland Resort’s Design and Engineering team discovered they CAN make an incredible difference for the Orange County Food Bank.
What happened:
- On August 31, the Design and Engineer team worked to transformed 8,900 canned goods into a towering 10-foot Jack-Jack, complete with cookie num nums at the 11th annual CANstruction Orange County.
- Fans will recognize the adorable baby who showed off his many powers in Disney·Pixar’s summer film, Incredibles 2. And while this Jack-Jack won’t be saving the world, he will be on display at South Coast Plaza through September.
- Jack-Jack is the Disneyland Resort’s 11th structure built from canned goods since the inception of CANstruction Orange County, which supports the Orange County Food Bank. The structures have produced the equivalent of three meals a day for a family of three for 11 years.
What they’re saying:
- Andy Flores associate engineer at Disneyland Resort: “Teamwork is key to our role as designers here at Disney. It’s natural for us to carry that approach into the CANstruction project every year. We utilize the talents of graphic designers, architects, engineers and we develop some other specialized skills to accomplish our finished sculpture.”
- Disneyland Resort Staff Engineer Tim Angers: “I’ve been participating in this competition for a few years now because I’m just so impressed by the concept behind it. Could we just donate a huge pile of cans? Sure. But doing it this way – it increases public awareness. It shows people how big the need really is and hopefully, we can make a bigger difference than just the cans we donate.”
- Mark Lowry, director of the OC Food Bank: “Disney cast members have helped educate people about the issue of hunger in a creative and compelling manner through magical and visually stunning structures that have entertained people. But most importantly, they have provided additional food to expand the capacity of the OC Food Bank to combat hunger.”
Fun facts:
- Disney VoluntEARS designed Jack-Jack over a period of six months and joined local architectural design firms in building creative structures for the design-build competition.
- The structures can be viewed in September at South Coast Plaza, John Wayne Airport, and the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) before the food is donated to the Orange County Food Bank.
- Supporters can vote for their favorite structures online; $1 equals one vote and the proceeds go to the Orange County Food Bank.
- Through CANstruction Orange County and food drives, the Disneyland Resort has provided the OC Food Bank more than 69,000 meals for the local community over the last 11 years.
- Disney VoluntEARS regularly assist in quarterly food packing events, and in 2017, volunteered more than 1,800 hours at the food bank.
Over the past three years Disney VoluntEARS have created some amazing designs for CANstruction Orange County including a Fantasmic dragon and more.