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The Burton Family Foundation donates $10,000 to the Burton Christmas Food Drive & Kids Helping Kids campaign
Published Nov 21, 2025 • Last updated 10 hours ago • 2 minute read
Ashley Burton Rantala and Brian Burton, of the Burton Family Foundation, made a $10,000 donation to Bill Bray, right, president of the Sudbury Food Bank, to launch the Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive and Kids Helping Kids city-wide campaigns in Sudbury, Ont. on Friday November 21, 2025. Photo by John Lappa /Sudbury StarArticle content
The family of the man who started the Edgar Burton Christmas Food Drive & Kids Helping Kids campaign has donated $10,000 to kick-start this year’s campaign.
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“We are very pleased to officially start this year’s community campaign by receiving a donation of $10,000 towards the Edgar Burton Food Drive from the newly formed Burton Family Foundation,” the Sudbury Food Bank said in a release Friday.
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“(The foundation) aims to support arts and community in Sudbury. Co-founders Ashley Burton Rantala and Brian Burton are family members of the late Edgar Burton.”
For more information, visit www.burtonfamilyfoundation.ca.
Edgar Burton, a machine operator at Inco (now Vale) in Sudbury, started the food drive in 1987, inspired by his daughters and efforts by local schools to collect canned goods for families in need. He began by placing collection boxes at the Copper Cliff Smelter and partnering with the Salvation Army.
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The drive quickly expanded to include businesses, schools, and the broader community and has become one of the largest per-capita food drives in Canada.
Over the years, the drive has collected more than 1,000 tons of food and hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Sudbury Food Bank. Annual campaigns now gather more than 100 tons of food and significant monetary donations (such as $210,000 in 2021).
Burton died in 2010, but Vale and United Steelworkers Local 6500 continue to organize the campaign, donating staff time and resources.
Also supporting the campaign is the 2nd Battalion, Irish Regiment of Canada, which picks up the donations from participating donor businesses and schools.
This year, they will pick up the food on Dec 15, 16 and 17. And while the drive will wrap up on Dec. 17, donations will be accepted after that date.
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More than 200 businesses and group have already pledged their support for this year’s food drive campaign, but others are welcome to join the effort.
“We invite any additional group or business that would like to pledge their support to join this community initiative,” the Burton Family Foundation said.
To help, email ebcfooddrive@gmail.com or sudburyfoodbank@vianet.ca, or call 705-682-8200 or 705-671-9663.
The Sudbury Food Bank said its member agencies are “acutely aware that many people are facing their own financial concerns at the present time. Increased numbers of new people visiting their local food banks and meal providers for assistance shows this quite clearly. So we truly appreciate now more than ever the commitment people are making to help feed our region’s hungry.”
For additional information on Sudbury Food Bank events and programs, visit www.sudburyfoodbank.ca.
sud.editorial@sunmedia.ca
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