Louis Mapp is an 81 year-old great-grandfather who volunteers at the NICU at USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. Once a week, he drives 45 minutes from his home to cuddle the premature newborns and do anything he can to help them out.

“I’m 81 years old,” Mapp explained, “and one of the neatest things I’ve ever done is being around those precious babies, and the nurses that take care of them.”

Mapp went on to say that he is always ready to make the trip any day of the week if the nurses need his help.

“When you walk in there, it’s hard to describe it if you’ve never been in a NICU, to see them in there and see how some are so small,” he said. “Being able to hold them, and see them smile at you, I get a lot of satisfaction out of it.”

Mapp loves to hold the newborns and think about what they will go on to do in life.

“I’m sitting there, holding these precious little babies, and in my mind, I think, ‘What are they gonna be when they grow up?’” he said. “I just imagine all kinds of things.”

As if this wasn’t enough, Mapp decided to go even further to help these premature babies. Along with his wife Melinda of 59 years, they gave the hospital an endowment of $1 million through the Mapp Family Foundation! This money will be used by doctors and nurses at the facility to buy equipment and other things that may not fit into their budget.

“After being there and seeing what a special place it is, and what an impact they have on people’s lives, my wife and I decided we wanted to do something for them,” Mapp said. “We have been blessed, and we said, ‘What a good place, to share some of those blessings, with the NICU. And the endowment will be there, long after we’re gone, to keep providing funds for them.”

Mapp explained that he wants to use the years he has left to help as many people as possible. Through his foundation, Mapp has given out 600 grants that have helped free clinics, drug rehab programs and food banks.

“When you get my age, I’m 81, every day, I ask the Lord, ‘Show me, somebody, where I can help them,’ ” he said. “It may not be financially, it may be giving them a ride, or making a phone call, but I figure, while I’m here on earth, I need to do everything I can to help others.”

Find out more about what Mapp did for the NICU in the video below!