The tally was approximately 8,500 pounds more than 24,000 pounds of canned food collected at last year's Homecoming. The students were able to collect more cans, did a much better job of collecting the cans and were able to get more alumni support. The collected canned foods benefit Second Harvest, an organization that donates the food to feeding programs across five counties. Student organizations have collected food for the castles for the past five years. Frequently, they start collecting as early as the summer.
Alumni also donate money to the student organizations to purchase canned foods.
On the Friday of Homecoming week, members of the student organizations construct canned food creations such as castles, stadiums and many other designs.