Unique Sculpture Raises Awareness About Hunger

Name, Age: Bridget Gilfeather, 17

School: 

Accomplishment: Raising awareness about local hunger through unique sculpture.

Key to Awesomeness: It took 10 hours and 1,776 Shop Rite cans for Bridget Gilfeather to send a message about hunger in a big way.

As a girl scout, Gilfeather was challenged find a way to address a need in her community.

"I knew I wanted to do hunger," she said.

After consulting with an architect and designing the "helping hand" sculpture, she chose Shop Rite cans as the primary material for the project.

"They are all donations," she revealed. "There are 1,776 in the sculpture, but I was able to donate some more because we had extra."

After the sculpture was displayed in the social hall of  for a week, she donated all of the cans to Pleasantville's Interfaith Food Pantry.

"I wanted to donate them locally and it was nice to give to the food pantry," she said. "They serve 100 to 200 families in Pleasantville, Chappaqua and Armonk, so it was nice to keep it local."

Gilfeather said viewers were "surprised" by the scope of the sculpture while it was on display.

"They really saw the impact," she said. "It made a statement to them."

Gilfeather—a high school senior—is looking to pursue pre-med when she heads of to college next year, and feels her 12 years as a girl scout have taught her some important lessons.

"I really feel like it's taught me how to be a better person, it's taught me values and how to treat others," she said. "It's nice to be committed to something for so long."

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