A full slate of 32 local businesses are off and running in Hopelink’s seventh annual Can Madness competitive food drive to help stock the agency’s five food banks. The first weigh-in will take place on March 4 and the competition will continue until the winner is crowned April 1.

The drive is patterned after the national spring college basketball tournament, matching businesses in weekly competitions to see which can bring in the most food. Teams are bracketed together in pairs and one winner from each two-member bracket will advance to the following week.

This year, defending champion Xtreme Consulting Group, Inc., of Kirkland is joined by six other Kirkland teams, as well as 15 businesses from Redmond and five from Bellevue. A new team from Sammamish also joins the roster this year, while north King County will be represented by four Shoreline teams.

To ensure that businesses of all sizes are able to compete on a level playing field, the competition uses a unique scoring system that divides the number of pounds of food collected each Friday by a denominator that reflects the size of the business.

This year, a new wrinkle will make it easier for competitors to raise funds in addition to food, through interactive web pages designed for each team. Community members can support their favorite team here: https://fundraise.hope-link.org/events/hopelink-can-madness/e69548.

The annual drive offers a way for local businesses to help bolster Hopelink food banks during the time when holiday donations traditionally taper off but demand remains high. Last year, 32 businesses in Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Shoreline and Seattle collected nearly of 48,000 pounds of food and more than $5,500 cash – the most ever raised during one year of the competition.

Hopelink Can Madness 2016 participants:

Redmond:

AT&T Redmond Town Center

City of Redmond

CrossFit Fuse

Falco Sult

Flying Saucer Pizza

Hancock’s Bakery

Home Team Real Estate

McDonald’s Book Exchange

Super Jock ‘n Jill

VCA Redmond Animal Hospital

VCA Redwood Animal Hospital

Windermere Redmond

Wingin’ It Café & BBQ

Wong Fleming

Wyndham Vacation Ownership

Bellevue:

Entirenet

Express Employment Professionals

TJ Maxx Factoria

Vega Consulting LLC

WG Cells

Kirkland:

Hallmark Realty

Ilovekickboxing

Lake Washington Physical Therapy

Touch of Class Barbershop

Winshuttle LLC

Wilde Rover Irish Pub

Xtreme Consulting Group, Inc.

Sammamish:

Boys and Girls Club

Shoreline:

Magnum Self Storage

OAC Services

Orange Theory Fitness

Toni & Guy Hairdressing Academy