FunFacts: a salute to volunteerism in a sculpture that will feed thousands

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – To dramatize the spirit of giving, Walt Disney World Resort on Thursday (Feb. 11, 2010) unveiled a mammoth wall of canned goods – destined as a donation to food banks in Orlando, Miami and Atlanta.  Here are some fun facts about the sculpture:

·      A team made up of Disney VoluntEARS and project leaders devoted more than 500 “man hours” over a four-day period to construct the sculpture.

·      More than 115,000 cans of food – plus assorted boxes and bags of food items – were used in the sculpture, anchored by a larger-than-life Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Pluto.

·      Mickey’s famous head was shaped from cans of black olives, and cans of sliced pineapple made up Pluto’s eyes.  Containers of Atlantic salmon were used to construct a portion of Goofy’s face while cans of tuna made up Donald’s hat.  Common to each character: pupils made from pans of popcorn.

·      If all the cans making up the sculpture were stacked on top of one another, the topmost can would be more than a mile above the 29,035-foot summit of Mt. Everest.

·      The sculpture contains approximately 44 tons of food – everything from albacore tuna and apricot halves to spaghetti, stewed tomatoes and mixed vegetables – destined to become more than 70,000 meals for the needy.

·      Guinness World Records, the universally recognized authority on record-breaking achievement, on Thursday authenticated the structure as the Largest Canned Food Structure ever created. The previous record for a can sculpture was 54,527 cans, set in June 2009 in New Zealand, Guiness said.

·      Following a “Kodak moment,” the sculpture was to be disassembled Thursday afternoon – a process expected to take approximately six hours and involve as many as 200 people led by 25 Disney VoluntEARS and project leaders.