Rising Star Outreach, Inc

Rising Star Outreach empowers individuals and families to rise above the stigma associated with leprosy and to live healthy, productive lives through quality education, medical care, and community development.

MEDICAL CARE

People who have contracted leprosy are often shunned from society and most are considered “untouchable”.

Fear and stigma prevent early detection and the necessary steps to be cured and overcome the disease. It can be difficult to find doctors willing to help. Our mobile medical clinics provide medical care, vision care, and an aggressive screening program to detect and treat new cases of leprosy.

A simple multi-drug therapy cures leprosy. With early detection, we can stop leprosy before it ravages a body and ruins a family. Our medical program also provides treatment and support for people who are living with the deforming and debilitating effects of this terrible disease.

COLONY DEVELOPMENT

We designed our development programs to increase the dignity and self-reliance of colony members as we help them achieve economic rehabilitation and assist them in infrastructure-building projects.

Rising Star Outreach helps facilitate infrastructure, growth, and community development within India’s leprosy colonies. Colony leaders receive micro-grants, manage the disbursement, repayment, success, and the growth of the loans.

Families become self-sufficient. Parents are productive members of society and are treated with dignity. Their children do not need to focus on financially supporting their families and can focus on an education.

EDUCATION

One of the fastest and most effective ways to overcome the fear and stigma associated with leprosy is through education.

Education creates opportunities for the children living in leprosy colonies. The Peery Matriculation School for Rising Stars provides an education from kindergarten to 12th grade. Nearly 20% of our student body is comprised of children from surrounding villages. By integrating children from the communities with children from the leprosy colonies, we are seeing how fear and stigma are overcome when they are united in common goals.

Quality educators provide our students with a rigorous academic program that includes English, science, math, and computer technology. Our 11th and 12th-grade students enjoy specialized tracks at our equivalent of a junior college to prepare them for higher education and a promising career. We are proud to have 67 students who are either currently enrolled in college or are college-bound this year after graduation.