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1 UP LifeBridge Program

Our 1 Up LifeBridge Program is a big part of Games For Love’s mission to save lives through our Program Ecosystem Approach.

The 1 Up LifeBridge Program gives life-saving, and life-prolonging access to funding for treatments for children in developing countries. When a child is sick or injured in most developing countries, they must bring cash-in-hand to the hospital, or be turned away. This leaves the majority of children in developing countries to be at high risk of loss of life due to treatable and unnecessary reasons.

This is why we created the 1 Up LifeBridge program according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, to make sure that children’s lives are not in danger before we can introduce programs like #GFLX to provide distraction therapy. Every child should have a right to medical care no matter their background. 1up LifeBridge is our international program committed to supporting sick children in hospitals and healthcare facilities in developing countries.

Program Impact

95

Children Impacted

75

Lives of children saved

1500

Children Impacted in 2021 Goal

Stories From The Field

How it works

1
A Doctor or Nurse will contact our team of Social Workers to make a referral. In some hospitals, our team is given a space to operate social services from which makes our response time faster.
2
Our Social Workers assess the situation, talk with family, and the immediate emergency response team to get as much information as possible to make a decision quickly.
3
After we have all information to vet and assess the situation, we are able to make a determination if 1up LifeBridge is the right program to assist. If so, we take immediate action and cover all costs for treatments and aftercare which in most cases is life-saving or life-prolonging care, treatments, or procedures.

Do you or someone you know need 1up Lifebridge? You may apply or nominate someone for care below and our team will be in touch within 24-48 hours.

Apply for care today

Program Highlights

How did 1Up Lifebridge get started?

One of our international partners were going into local hospitals over the years to provide care for children to help with needed social services. While providing these services they met a boy and his family that was wanting to assist in the efforts. The partners became close with the boy, and he was a big helper. After some time this boy was playing near his home when he was bitten by a dog, and that dog had rabies. 

The family rushed him to the nearest hospital, wanting to help the boy, but they didn’t have money available to help treat him. Shortly after, our partners learned later that the boy had passed away, and all that was needed was a series of simple shots to save the boy’s life. Those shots cost less than $50 USD.  

As a result, our partners vowed to not let this happen under their care again and began to go into hospitals daily to help treat children and pay for their medical needs. In 2020, because of rising costs, they were no longer able to go into hospitals and so Games For Love stepped in to provide 1UP LifeBridge to continue the international legacy of helping children in their most desperate times to provide life-saving and live prolonging treatments, procedures, and care.   

Distraction Therapy in developing countries

Distraction therapy is a powerful tool for good in the healing process for children. It is even more powerful in developing countries where children gather from miles away for an opportunity to play games on a new console.

When we began to work internationally, we quickly realized that while powerful it’s not as effective when children are worried for their lives. Using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Games For Love determined that we needed a new program to be able to assist children in these countries, and after working with the local hospitals to understand their pain points, we learned about how children are passing away at alarming rates due to completely treatable sickness, and injuries. We knew we needed to do something.

Then The Program Ecosystem was born

We started offering 1Up LifeBridge to children in 2020, and in 2021 – we were able to begin to offer the #GFLX Program to bring Distraction therapy to hospitals and health care facilities in the Philippines! This program is more powerful than ever as children are able to heal, and recover from illness and injuries with peace of mind, not being in fear for their lives, and now with that weight off their shoulders we can now focus on their mental health and bring distraction therapy to children who need it.

Earned Opportunities Through Excellence

— Letter of recommendation
— Linkedin recommendations
— Volunteer Recognition
— Access to our Annual Award Program
— Team Leadership and Coaching
— One on One Mentoring in your field
— Introductions to Industry-Leading Organizations

Internship – Apply to Join

— Simple to Follow process
— Apply for access to the program
— Be accepted into the program
— Use your skills to make a difference
— See your impact in the lives of kids
— Be given a shot to prove yourself
— Looks Great on your Resume

Apply Now

Applying to the program is easy, just click to get started!

Quotes From Past Interns

“Without the Interns International program, I would not be where I am today working in my dream field. I had a hard time after college finding a job, and in after only 6 months of the Interns International Program, I was hired at Microsoft.”

Eve C.Without the Interns International program, I wouldnt be where I am today

“I went from Intern to League Of Pros member in less than a year. After graduating Full Sail University with a Game Design Degree I couldn't find work for months after graduation. I dedicated myself fully to the program to learn and receive mentorship and within a few short months I am now a Producer at Gamevil, and even giving talks at GDC based on my work with Games For Love. This Program Changed my life!”

Justin C.

“My mentors helped me fix some issues on my resume, and because of that, I was able to be selected for an Interview with IGG. Once my foot was in the door, that was all I needed to have a chance...my life is better because of Games for Love because of the support from team members and made many new friends.”

Wing COnce my foot was in the door, that was all I needed to have a chance

“I'm grateful for all the work I get to do with the organization. It's been an awesome way to grow personally and professionally, but even more fulfilling is it gives me an opportunity to help others. And of course, when networking or doing interviews, it's a great experience to bring up.”

Jack G.I'm grateful for all the work I get to do with the organization

“When I joined, I had little to no experience in the field working on a team, so the chance to gain that was really valuable for me. That experience helped me to land a job at a fortune 500 company.”

Amanda S.That experience helped me to land a job at a fortune 500 company

“Working on a game together with the GFL taught me something I would not dare to aim for in the past. I could develop games to influence people to better themselves, or I could explore more career options as a software developer and work with developers to create software that can assist people in their daily life like water purification, AI machine, quantum computation, its daring for me to imagine but my goal is to help people with my development, like how GFL want to help children in hospital.”

Alex C.GFL taught me something I would not dare to aim for in the past

“Being a woman in games is challenging and the gaming industry has a catch 22 in that you need the experience to get in, even out of University. The Games For Love Internship program, gives the perfect middle ground needed to take control of your career. They have thoughtful mentors, a well-thought-out program, and exciting projects. This was everything I needed to show I could do this.”

Katie N.This was everything I needed to show I could do this.