Volunteers including firefighters, police officers, ambulance staff and civil defence personnel, are set to take part in the Christmas Food Bank Can Appeal.
This long-running community initiative began in 1997 and aims to replenish the stocks of local foodbanks before the festive season.
Co-ordinator and senior firefighter Aimee Taylor said more than 300 volunteers would take part in the convoy of emergency service vehicles to collect non-perishable food items from households across the city as well as helping sort items at distribution points.
Ms Taylor said the aim of the appeal was to ensure foodbanks remained well-stocked for families in need during Christmas.
The appeal will be divided into two collection nights to ensure a more focused approach for each area.
The first collection will take place on Monday, between 6pm and 9pm, covering the areas of Green Island, Brighton, Abbotsford, Waldronville, Fairfield, Mosgiel, East Taieri, Allanton and Outram. Local volunteer groups will help collect and sort items.
The second collection on December 12, from 6pm to 8.30pm, will target the central city as well as East and West Harbour suburbs.
Ms Taylor said donations should be limited to canned and packaged foods.
People who might be away could leave donations in visible spots, such as near letterboxes or by fences, for collection.
The donations will be distributed to local foodbanks run by Saint Vincent de Paul, Presbyterian Support Otago, the Salvation Army and the Mosgiel Community Foodbank.
Last year,Dunedin collectively contributed 1000 banana boxes of food to the appeal.
Many more cans and dry goods were delivered to the Mosgiel Community Foodbank.
Ms Taylor passed on her appreciation for the continued support from residents and volunteers who helped ensure essential items were available for those facing food hardship during the holiday season.
Presbyterian Support Otago social work team leader Jollene Warrington said it was seeing a mix of whanau, couples and individuals accessing its foodbank.
There had been a 14% increase in demand for the foodbank since the same period last year. The financial impact of getting through week to week was significant across the whole community.
"The high cost of living, such as rent or mortgage increases due to higher interest rates, the ongoing high costs of food, electricity costs, the cost of petrol and transport costs are having a huge impact on our community.
"Just trying to make ends meet at the basic level is a genuine struggle."
Between January and November it had given out 4151 food parcels.
For the same period last year it gave out 3640, representing about a 13% increase in demand.
Its foodbank had "taken a hit" and its shelves were "pretty bare" at present, Mrs Warrington said.
The charity was relying on the Christmas can appeal to help fill its shelves again. The most wanted food items included tinned tomatoes, chickpeas, tinned tuna, pasta sauce, soups, spreads and ready meals.
Society of St Vincent de Paul centre and pastoral co-ordinator Sarah Strang said the plight of foodbanks at the moment was "desperate".
"This is the worst I have seen it in the decade I’ve worked here. Need has doubled in the last few months."
The generosity of the community at Christmas was truly valued, and it looked forward to having food on its shelves again, she said.
Mosgiel Community Foodbank co-ordinator Michelle Kerr said numbers of people using the food bank had increased quite considerably, including people who had not used the service previously.
