A full slate of 32 local businesses are set to begin Hopelink’s third annual March Can Madness competitive food drive next week to help stock the agency’s five food banks.
The competition begins with the first weigh-in March 9 and will continue until the final two businesses go head-to-head on March 30. The winner will be crowned April 6.
The drive is patterned after the national spring college basketball tournament, matching up businesses in weekly competitions to see which one can bring in the most food. Each week, the winning business in every pairing or “bracket” will advance to the following week. Last year, 30 businesses collected 9,809 pounds of food for Hopelink food banks, with defending champion Hancock’s Bakery in Redmond bringing in 4,589 pounds.
This year’s competition has expanded to include businesses in Shoreline and Sno-Valley, in addition to Redmond and Kirkland.
Teams are bracketed together in pairs and one winner from each two-member bracket will advance to the following week.
To ensure that businesses of all sizes are able to compete on a level playing field, the competition uses a unique scoring system: the total pounds of food donated by a business are divided by the total number of employees, resulting in a competitive “score.”
Here are the March Can Madness 2012 participants:
• 180 Degrees Chiropractic, Redmond
• A Touch of Class Barbers, Kirkland
• Chuck Olson Chevrolet Kia, Shoreline
• Dale Turner Family YMCA, Shoreline
• Falco Sult & Company, Redmond
• First Tech Credit Union, Redmond
• Greater Kirkland Chamber of Commerce
• Greater Redmond Chamber of Commerce
• Guild Mortgage, Kirkland
• Hallmark Realty, Kirkland
• Hancock’s Bakery, Redmond
• Jake’s Kirkland/Life is Good
• JJ Mahoney’s Irish Pub, Redmond
• Lake Washington Physical Therapy, Kirkland
• LIFT Pilates Studio, Kirkland
• McDonald’s Book Exchange, Redmond
• NAMI Eastside, Redmond
• Pacific Music, Redmond
• Palmer’s East Bar & Grill, Redmond
• Parkplace Books, Kirkland
• Redmond Athletic Club
• Redmond Physical Therapy
• Roos Orthodontics, Redmond
• Rotary Club of Redmond
• Safeway, Duval
l• Shoreline Chamber of Commerce
• Sterling Savings Bank, Kirkland
• Sterling Savings Bank, Shoreline
• Taco Del Mar, Kirkland
• TONI&GUY Hairdressing Academy, Shoreline
• VCA Redwood Animal Hospital, Redmond
• Washington Federal, Kirkland
For complete bracket matchups for the competition, click here.
The competition is in its third year and was the brainchild of Lake Washington Physical Therapy’s Ben Wobker as a way for local businesses to help stock Hopelink’s five food banks during the time when holiday donations traditionally taper off.
