Gift to Uplift is a student venture that was founded by undergraduate students at the University of Maryland. We create personalized storybooks for children facing life-changing illnesses. The books allow each child to be the hero of their own story and the sky is the limit! We service children of all ages, and while a cold does not count as a life-altering illness, most other conditions are acceptable. We want the program to be widespread and accepting, which is something larger wish providing organizations cannot do, due to their higher budget per child. We operate at a cost of about $20 per book, which makes it easy to help a lot of kids, without being exclusive. We are currently partnered with the Children’s Inn at the National Institutes of Health, and this is where most of our book recipients are from. We are working to expand to offer our services to other organizations as well. Naturally, we cannot barge into hospitals and talk to patients, so when working with hospitals, we use an “opt in” program. The hospital distributes our flyers to waiting rooms, and we patiently await nominations through our e-mail or website. The process of making the books is fairly simple. A child and their family fill out a brief questionnaire about the recipient’s dreams and favorite things. Then, the completed questionnaire is handed over to our writing team, who create a story and a storyboard. From there, the book with only words, is sent to student artists, who illustrate and format the book. The book is packaged and sent to the child. Our mission is to give a fun gift to uplift the spirits of kids facing life-altering conditions. The best way to contact us is through our e-mail, which is gifttouplift@gmail.com. To nominate a child, e-mail us contact information and information about the child. We also regularly update our Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/gift2uplift_umd/ We look forward to hearing from you!