Samaritan's Purse UK today launched an innovative plan to give hope and a future to 30,000 families living in extreme poverty around the world.

With the World Bank reporting that there are 1.3 billion people on the planet living on less than £1 a day, Samaritan's Purse is responding to this desperate need by launching a ground-breaking initiative called Raising Families, which expands its existing work in bringing hope to vulnerable children and families in some of the neediest countries of the world.

Today's special launch event took place at the Christian Resources Exhibition (CRE) at Sandown Park in Esher.

Simon Barrington, executive director of Samaritan's Purse UK, said: "With families in some of the poorest and hardest to reach parts of the world trapped in a cycle of extreme poverty, this is the time for us to work together with them, through local churches, to give vulnerable children and families a future."

Simon said it is especially important to remember these families tomorrow (15 May), which is the United Nations' International Day of Families.

"They and we know that healthy and loving families provide many of the essential building blocks for a strong and stable society.

"But in the world's poorest countries, too many families feel powerless and under constant threat from disease, malnutrition, poor housing, and the problems caused by a lack of education and a regular income."

In response to this urgent need, Raising Families builds on more than 15 years of experience, working through local churches to provide families with access to healthcare, education, nutritious food, housing and other resources to help build sustainable livelihoods, breaking a family's debilitating cycle of poverty.

A typical example of this is the story of Namwandu Nakabale – a remarkable 63-year-old Ugandan grandmother who suddenly had to face the prospect of caring for her three young grandchildren after both her son and daughter-in-law died.

With no income to feed, clothe or educate any of her grandchildren, Namwandu felt desperate and close to suicide. When volunteers from the local church, supported by Samaritan's Purse, heard of her plight they helped to provide uniforms and the fees to send her grandchildren to school.

But the help didn't stop there. Now Namwandu has an amazing garden where she's able to grow crops to feed her family. And with the money she's saved through the savings group at church, she's planning to start a business to give her grandchildren a future they could never have dreamed of having.

Under Raising Families, for as little as £10 a month, families like Namwandu's who are currently living hand-to-mouth, can start living with genuine hope for tomorrow. The children in school, enough food to eat, access to healthcare, a safe and loving home and a source of income.This is the kind of transformation that Samaritan's Purse wants to see, working through the local church, for vulnerable children and their families in the poorest parts of the world.

Chris Blackham, Samaritan's Purse UK's head of programmes and projects, said: "Through Raising Families, families in the UK have an opportunity to play an active and necessary part in the miracle of transformation that is now taking place among families in the poorest parts of the world.From Kyrgyzstan to Kenya, from Liberia to Rwanda, from Swaziland to Uganda."

Over the coming weeks, Samaritan's Purse will be launching significant initiatives for individuals and organisations, from all walks of life, to participate in Raising Families.