"We were blown away by the response from Dunedin," University of Otago student Nic Twaddle said.
"There was a steady stream of Dunedinites walking through the door all day, dropping off bags and boxes."
He was "overwhelmed" by the generosity of people in Dunedin, Otago-Southland and elsewhere in donating non-perishable lunch packs to the Otago University Union building on Saturday - with contributions far exceeding the initial 10,000 pack target.
"It's definitely been the best case scenario in terms of the support the community has come out with."
The southern community had clearly "got the message"after Otago University students appealed for non-perishable lunches to be donated on campus.
Mr Twaddle, who, with Otago University campus pastor Josh Eyre, has been helping co-ordinate tertiary student volunteers in Dunedin, said about 300 Dunedin volunteers had initially aimed to collect 10,000 non-perishable lunches to be sent to the 2000-strong University of Canterbury Student Volunteer Army at the weekend.
The Christchurch volunteers are working in non-critical outlying areas, clearing silt and lifting bricks for those requiring assistance.
Some of the food would also be passed on to Christchurch residents in need, he added.
The strong southern backing would allow the Christchurch volunteers to get on with helping the "wider Christchurch community".
The first 2000 lunches reached Christchurch before daybreak yesterday in an Otago University Students Association van driven by association president Harriet Geoghegan and communications co-ordinator Alasdair Johnston.
The rest of the lunches were driven north at 8am yesterday in a truck-trailer supplied by Northern Southland Transport Ltd.
The southern business community had provided strong support for the food pack initiative, including Otago Packaging Supplies Ltd, which provided 800 boxes to carry the food packs.
The Otago Farmers Market had also donated a trailer load of apples, nectarines and other fresh fruit which had already been delivered to Christchurch, and a woman had driven up from Invercargill with 500 lunch packs to donate at the Otago campus.
Two commercial crates of apples were also sent to Christchurch by apple growers in Hawkes Bay who were responding to the Otago student initiative, he said.
