Kiran Charities, Inc. was formed to improve the education of impoverished children by providing on-site assistance and financial support to schools in India that serve this population. The mission of Kiran Charities is to prepare the leaders of tomorrow's India, one school at a time.

For four years, the founder of Kiran Charities, Mr. Michael Antony, provided financial assistance to schools in southern India to supplement or completely underwrite the salaries of the teaching staff at three primary schools and two secondary schools, as well as underwriting capital improvements such as the installation of toilets, computer labs, and libraries.

In an effort to formalize and better organize the benefits of his charitable giving, Mr. Antony recently created Kiran Charities, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Houston, Texas. As a native of southern India, Mr. Antony has witnessed first-hand the disparity in educational opportunities for disadvantaged children. As a young student attending school in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, Mr. Antony prided himself on never missing a single day of classes from 6^th to 11^th standard (grade), except for the day the school elders barred him from school because he could not afford to pay his annual tuition, which was roughly equal to 4 US dollars. Mr. Antony, who grew up in a family of nine, eventually earned enough money to pay his tuition and enroll again in school, where he graduated with honors and went on to earn a masters degree in chemical engineering from India's most prestigious university, the Indian Institute of Technology. Mr. Antony is now President, Owner, and Chief Process Engineer of an EPC company in Houston, Texas. He is also the owner of an IT company that specializes in software and hardware for providing wireless solutions to chemical plants. Owing his success to the opportunity to pursue higher education, and remembering the frustration and embarrassment of that fateful day when he was almost denied that opportunity, Mr. Antony vowed that never again would a student in need from his village be turned away from the school's doors. Accordingly, he approached the school's headmaster and made arrangements to pay the full tuition of any student who could not afford to do so.

From this one act of generosity, Mr. Antony's support extended to the creation of Kiran Charities and our current work of touching the lives of over 4,500 students. Ever the visionary, Mr. Antony's goal is to eventually reach 100,000 students in 10 years. Assisting Mr. Antony in this ambitious mission is the charity's executive director, Mr. David Long, who has over forty years of experience in the field of education. They are joined by Mr. Stanly Jones, who resides in India and oversees the operations of Kiran Charities' sister organization, the Kiran Charities N.G.O. in India.

Currently, we are assisting both primary and higher secondary schools in southern India. These schools mainly serve orphans, abandoned children, slum dwellers, tribal children, and the handicapped. Many of these schools were started and are now managed by the Sisters of Charity of the Sacred Heart, who have dedicated their lives to living among, and helping, the poorest of the poor. Often, these Sisters stepped in to create schools where none existed in order to serve children who had nowhere else to turn. Several of these schools are in danger of closing due to lack of funds. Our mission at Kiran Charities is to administer, manage, and bring up the standard of education to our seven standards that serve these populations.