SUDBURY – It’s that time of year again, and in Sudbury, the holiday season always means the Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive and the Kids Helping Kids Campaign is back.

Local school kids were on hand for the kick off of this year's drive.

Edgar Burton was a former Inco employee who started this idea 32 years ago, and now, his family is happy to keep it going in his name.

"Uncle Edgar, he himself and his family was of little means, and he knows what it was like to go without a meal… when his daughters did come home and ask them to help out with food drive in their school, it was just the start to a legacy that will go on forever and ever we hope," said Linda Jolly & Jenn Burton, Edgar's niece and daughter.

Officials with the Food Bank say there is an extreme need for food and donations this time of year.

Sudbury Food Bank President Mellaney Dahl says they "provide food for about 11,000 Sudburians every month, for a quarter of the year. So the food that we get at this time of year will last us until March. It's a huge undertaking."

Before Edgar's passing in 2010, he launched the Kids Helping Kids Campaign which teaches students the importance of giving back to their community.

"It's very important to me to bring cans in because some people aren’t as lucky as us. Every year, I bring about three cans and five boxes of macaroni and every year I like to bring one more," said Anne Sarvas, grade 6 student.

"If you goal is to raise just one more can, you're always going to be growing and you're always going to be getting bigger and there's always more people that need our support unfortunately," says Sarah Yasinchuk, Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive Co-Chair.

The school that made the largest contribution last year was McLeod Public School with 97,000 cans of food.

"The kids in the Rainbow District School Board actually provide a quarter of the food that the foodbank uses each year, so it just show you, the kids have a tremendous amount of power. Our hope is that they will eventually continue this tradition in their families and in their schools as they get older," said Kerri Monagham, Rainbow District School Board.

Since the Christmas Food Drive began over three decades ago, people in the community have collected over 1,000 tons of food for the Sudbury Foodbank.