Becky Douglas stood before the audience with a message that was both powerful and deeply personal. “I’m so happy to be with you today and I’d like to thank Legacy Builders for this remarkable opportunity,” she began. What followed was a moving account of how one person’s willingness to act can create waves of change across the world.
A mother of ten children and grandmother to twenty-three, Becky Douglas understands the meaning of legacy on a profound level. However, her journey into philanthropy began in the wake of a personal tragedy. “My oldest daughter Amber was severely bipolar. She struggled in and out of mental institutions for about eight years. She finally gave up and took her own life,” Becky shared. Yet, even in her suffering, Amber had been using part of her college money to support an orphan in India. “I think maybe because she suffered so much, she just had a tender spot for people who suffered.”
It was this act of generosity that set Becky on an unexpected path. At Amber’s funeral, the family asked for donations instead of flowers, which led Becky to become involved with an orphanage in India. When she traveled there, what she witnessed would forever change her life.
“At every stoplight, our car was surrounded by beggars… They were not only horribly disfigured, but they had rotting hands and feet. Many of them were missing eyes. They had open, gaping wounds, often with pus running down their arms,” she recalled. “I said to our driver, ‘Who are these people?’ And he said, ‘Those are the lepers.’ I thought, what are you talking about? There’s no leprosy in the world today. And he said, ‘Ha, we have millions in India.'”
Haunted by the suffering she had seen, Becky felt compelled to act. “After one long sleepless night, I thought, well, duh, you’re somebody. Do something!” And so, she gathered three friends and her husband’s secretary around her kitchen table, forming what would become Rising Star Outreach.
Creating a Holistic Approach
Despite knowing nothing about leprosy, India, or running a nonprofit, Becky and her team dove in. Their initial efforts focused on providing food to leprosy colonies, but they quickly realized that true change required a more holistic approach. “We try to treat the whole person because we want meaningful and lasting change,” she explained. Working alongside Padma Venkatraman, daughter of the former President of India, Rising Star Outreach developed three key initiatives: medical care, economic self-reliance, and education.
Medical Care: Dignity Through Investment
One of the first challenges they encountered was the stigma attached to leprosy. “No doctors wanted to touch them,” Becky explained. “They said, ‘If we touch a leprosy patient, then we become defiled and we’ll lose all of our other patients and we’ll lose our practice.’”
With time and strategic partnerships, Rising Star Outreach established mobile medical clinics that provide regular healthcare to the colonies. However, they soon discovered that simply offering free treatment wasn’t enough. “Padma told me, ‘Every time you give something to someone, you diminish that person… If you really want to help someone, you need to make them responsible for themselves and just give them the power to do it.’” With this in mind, they began charging patients a symbolic two rupees (about two and a half cents) per visit. “Suddenly, they started doing everything the doctor told them. It was amazing! The wounds started healing because they were now invested. They had skin in the game.”
Economic Self-Reliance: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty
For thousands of years, those affected by leprosy had lived as beggars, but Rising Star Outreach saw their potential. “Padma had a different view of these people. She thought that they could own their own businesses and support their families with some dignity.”
Through microloans and self-help groups, the program empowered women to take control of their futures. “If a man comes for a loan that they know brutally beats his wife, no loans till the beatings have stopped,” Becky explained. “If a man comes for a loan that they know has raped several women in the colony—no loans until the rape has stopped.”
The impact of these efforts was life-changing. “Now through microfinance, they are creating small businesses so they can support their families with dignity. With proper opportunity and assistance, they’ve demonstrated that they can become productive citizens of India.”
Education: A Pathway to a Brighter Future
Recognizing that breaking the cycle of poverty and disease required long-term investment, Rising Star Outreach turned to education. “When we started, none of the colonies had access to clean water… No wonder they had so much infection,” Becky said. “We decided if we were going to stop leprosy, we would have to do it with the new generation.”
Through perseverance and partnerships, they established schools that have since been recognized among the top institutions in India. “In 2019, the National Education Association named our school the number one school in all of India for hands-on teaching,” Becky said proudly. “And to put that into perspective, there are one and a half million schools in India.”
Their work in education has yielded incredible results. “We have 98% of our students who graduate that go on to college,” Becky noted. The program even includes a unique tuition model where families contribute small amounts that are returned upon graduation, ensuring that parents remain invested in their children’s success.
The Power of One
Becky’s speech concluded with a simple yet profound message: “Four housewives and a secretary sat around a kitchen table, and today more than 100,000 lives have been significantly changed for the better. There is an incredible power within each one of us to make a difference in the world.”
Through medical care, economic empowerment, and education, Rising Star Outreach has provided dignity and opportunity to thousands affected by leprosy. Becky’s journey is a testament to the idea that one person’s willingness to act can spark a movement capable of changing the world.
“The good news is, we don’t all have to start a charity. We can join with others so that together we can leave the world a little better than we found it,” she concluded. And with Rising Star Outreach, she has done exactly that.
Becky Douglas
Founder of Rising Star Outreach
Becky Douglas is the Founder of Rising Star Outreach, a non-profit that works with the leprosy-affected of India. Her organization uses micro-credit to create economic self-reliance, provides medical services, and gives a world-class education to the children of the leprosy colonies.
Becky is the subject of the Gracie Award-winning PBS documentary, Breaking the Curse, and the Emmy Award-winning Documentary by Profiles in Caring. She was the recipient of the John Houston Allen Humanitarian of the Year Award by Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasters. She received the “Classic Woman Award” in 2009 by Traditional Homes Magazine. Her work has been featured in the Ladies Home Journal, the Washington Post, and numerous other journals and magazines, as well as by the BBC, ABC, NBC, and other television networks.
Rising Star Outreach’s work was recently featured in a new PBS special, LIFT, which was released in March 2024.
Becky’s work has touched audiences across the world. She spreads the message that within each of us lies the power to make a difference in the world.
Becky is married to John L. Douglas, the Chief Legal, Risk and Compliance Officer of TIAA in NYC. They are the parents of ten children.
Comments