A bouquet this morning for the 90,000 kiwi kids who took part in the 40 hour famine this year.

The government is to more than match what they raised for the Syrian crisis, and has allocated another $1.6 million to World Vision and it's work in northern Syria.

You may remember in may that Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced another $2.5 million in 'matched funding'. So that means NGOs have to raise the money themselves, and the government will then match it so they can scale-up their response to the situation in Syria.

So as I mentioned, some 90,000 kiwi kids took part in the 40 hour famine this year. I spoke in a number of schools up and down the country about what's going on in Syria. You always get hit with so many questions when you speak at schools. Kids are so inquisitive, it's fantastic - and it keeps you on your toes as well. And I only got to handful of schools. There were many all over the country who took part in this.

And collectively young New Zealanders raised a million dollars during the Government's match funding window, and $1.8 million in total, which is a remarkable amount of money.

Your children or grandchildren may have been among them. Or perhaps you sponsored them. And if you did, well give yourself a pat on the back. Because as a result of that stellar million dollar effort during the 40 hour famine, the government has agreed to top up that fund by another $1.6 million.

One million dollars has become $2.6 million.

And that sits alongside the New Zealand Herald and World Vision’s Forgotten Millions campaign, which raised more than $3 million for the Syrian crisis, so we're up over $5.5 million now.

Where will that money go?

It's always important to point this out, I think. It’s important that people know where the money goes.

In the north of Syria at the moment, World Vision's looking after about 100,000 people. They're internally displaced, the result of all the bombing that's going on in Allepo up towards the Turkish border. There are people who've fled that city, and are living in temporary camps.

It's a mess. Truly. There are hundreds of thousands of people trapped. And one of the biggest issues when you have a sudden convergence of people, is clean water. They’re having to truck it in. Sanitation is also a major issue too. There's a very real risk of disease – and so these kiwi dollars will fund not just water but also sanitation – so loos, drainage, and hygiene packs in particular for infants.

So it is money well spent, for sure.

And it's money that's been raised because of the 90,000 kiwi kids who dedicated themselves to raising money in this year's 40 hour famine.

Bravo to you. Hooray for the next generation. And if you helped support some of the children who were involved in the 40 hour famine this year, then a very big thank you to you as well.