Admission to Carnival: Canned Food

May 4, 2010 -- An event called Carnival for Cans on May 9 is designed as an educational canned-food drive extravaganza on Tappan Square.

It is open to all members of the Oberlin community, with the hope that many students from the elementary, middle, and high school will attend, according to organizer Laura Weiss.

Admission to the carnival is at least one can of non-perishable food. All food will be donated to Oberlin Community Services (OCS). The event is being held in conjunction with the Post Office’s annual canned food drive, Weiss said, so postal workers can pick up the food donated at the carnival and deliver it to OCS.

In exchange for bringing cans of food to the carnival, participants will get raffle tickets “for some pretty great prizes, most of which are donated by the local downtown businesses,” Weiss said.

There will be live music and performances from 11 am to 4 pm and a number of fun booths including face painting and arts and crafts.

There are also a number of educational events planned, since the goal of the carnival is to get Oberlin students thinking about issues of poverty in their community as well as ways in which they can work together to combat those issues.

Some of the educational events are a “What do you know about hunger?” quiz (with rewards for questions answered correctly) and simulation of grocery shopping with very little (fake) money.

There will also be informational tables for several local organizations that work to combat poverty in Oberlin, including Family Promise of Lorain County, so students can learn about how to volunteer and get involved in the community.

back to list of "OCS in the News" articles