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This Maryland teenager has helped thousands of kids find refuge in reading

Emily Bhatnagar used her own experience caring for her father to spread the joy of reading.

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — A teenager from Maryland is helping us get uplifted. Emily Bhatnagar has committed herself to helping hospitalized children with cancer find a bit of relief from despair and anxiety through books. She collects and donates books through her nonprofit For Love and Buttercup

Emily was inspired to start her book drive in July 2021 after finding her own outlet with them following her father's diagnosis with stage 4 thyroid cancer. It was while helping to care for him that she began collecting books donated by neighbors and passing them along to children in need.

Her father has since beat cancer, which means he now gets to lend her a hand helping her deliver literally thousands of books she is still collecting not only to hospitals, but schools, too. 

Credit: Emily Bhatnagar
Credit: Emily Bhatnagar

She's still accepting donations through her Instagram page, her Amazon wish list, or at Monsoon Kitchen, her parents' bread shop in Gaithersburg. 

Credit: Emily Bhatnagar

We want to share things that uplift you! If you have something you'd like to share, email us at GetUplifted@wusa9.com or contact Allison Seymour on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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