Families in the Taieri community will receive the bags of Christmas kai collected by volunteers and donated by generous locals.
Foodbank co-ordinator Michelle Kerr said the response had been fantastic.
For the first time paper bags were put in local letterboxes earlier in the week for people to fill like Christmas stockings, which were collected by emergency service workers after 6.30pm on Monday.
"You hear the emergency services and you get the food out of the cupboard and fill your bag."
Volunteers did not finish until 10.30pm.
About 70 volunteers at the foodbank worked to organise the food coming in.
"Our bags were a great hit. They were just magic."
The bags had a huge impact — quantities of donated food significantly increased from previous years, Mrs Kerr said.
It would all be needed.
"There are families out there where mum and dad are both working but they can’t afford to pay their rent. They still come to us for food."
Dunedin Central Station senior firefighter and Dunedin event organiser Aimee Taylor said emergency services would be out with sirens blaring to collect food in the Dunedin city area tomorrow from 6.30pm.
Cans collected on the night filled foodbanks for the entire year, she said.
