More than 3000 Hawke's Bay students will be giving up something they love or need to help Syrian refugees this weekend.
These students from 15 schools in the region are among more than 90,000 around the country who will be taking part in World Vision's annual 40 Hour Famine from June 9-11.
Participants will give up food, TV or social media or they might spend the weekend sleeping in a box, washing cars and living out of backpacks, to raise money for World Vision's child-friendly spaces for refugee children in Jordan.
World Vision chief executive Chris Clarke said the conflict in Syria was brutal and relentless, having just entered its seventh year and showed no signs of stopping.
There are now 13.5 million people who need humanitarian help, urgently. More than half of those affected are children - that's more than the entire population of New Zealand, he said.