Banquet To Feature Medical Missionary From India

India Partners, an international relief and development organization, will hold its annual fundraising banquets this spring. The first, in Eugene, Oregon, is set for Saturday, April 24, 2004, at the Valley River Inn. The second banquet will be held at the Sea-Tac Hilton in Seattle, Washington on May 8, 2004. The M.C. in Eugene is radio host Mark Raney of KZEL-FM, while Larry Lomax, radio host of Spirit 105.3 in Seattle, will M.C. the Seattle event. Dr. Iris Paul, Co-Founder and Director of Reaching Hand Society of Orissa, India, will be the featured speaker. After the banquets, Dr. Paul will be conducting a speaking tour across the U.S. and Canada through September.

Dr. Paul knew early on that her skills as a doctor could be used to serve God. When she met her husband, missionary R.A.C. Paul, he introduced her to the tribal people of Malkangiri, Orissa. Their sometimes dangerous work with the tribals led to the establishment of Reaching Hand Society.

Iris' award-winning outreach to the tribal villages surrounding Malkangiri continues, despite ever increasing challenges. She spends her long days traveling to interior villages which can only be reached by foot, performing life-saving miracles of physical and spiritual healing. St. Luke's, the first modern hospital in the area, is being built with India Partners' help. It will serve 500,000 people in Dr. Paul's district, most of whom are tribals. Her outreach extends to children--caring for their health and basic needs, and prisoners--training them to sew and teaching them to pray. She always says that her motto comes from the Bible, which gives her the strength to carry on: "My Grace is sufficient for you." With a heart-warming smile on her face, Iris says, "And keep going I must."

India Partners works in partnership with indigenous charities in India on locally initiated self-help programs in the areas of education, literacy, vocational training, child sponsorship, Bible education, relief, agricultural development and health care. Projects in India help all in need, regardless of religion, caste or creed. For more information about the banquets, contact India Partners toll-free 1-888-870-9085.