Samaritan's Purse has produced a new resource pack for churches to support families this Harvest.
The theme of this year's resource ties in with the organisation's new Raising Families campaign to lift 30,000 people out of poverty by 2016.
Samaritan's Purse is encouraging more churches to do something different around Harvest this year and work with their communities to bring hope to needy families overseas.
Samaritan's Purse Head of Communications, Brian Bennett, said: "We've been preparing for several months to launch this unique way of working to bring a hope and a future to vulnerable children and families. It's been so encouraging to see so many churches signing up to be part of this exciting new project."
Raising Families was launched at this year's Christian Resources Exhibition International in response to figures from the World Bank putting the number of people on the planet living on less than £1 a day at around 1.3 billion.
Samaritan's Purse will work through local churches to provide some of the most vulnerable people with nutritional and other practical support.
An example of someone already benefitting from Samaritan's Purse's help is 42-year-old single parent Jeanne, who was widowed at a young age and also lost both her parents. She was struggling to provide for her own two children, six of her siblings and four of their children.
The church stepped in and provided her with emergency food as well as a loan to start a small shop. Her first purchase was two bags of charcoal which she bought and then resold. Now her shop is thriving and she is able to feed all thirteen members of her family. The children are also able to attend school as a result of the money she is earning from the shop.
The Harvest resource pack contains a DVD shot on location in Rwanda and fundraising ideas for congregations. Money raised through the packs will go towards supporting more families experiencing hunger and desperation.
Find out more at www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/raising-families
