My Student Gifted Me His First Guitar Before Being Deported. Help needed…

I love this kid to death and it breaks my damn heart that he’s gone. This guitar is now one of my prized possessions.

I’m a public school teacher. One of my guitar club kids gave this to me as a keepsake—his very first guitar. Music is his whole world. He’s hard working, talented, and started a band before having to leave. Now, he just wants me to remember him. I asked him to write some messages on it so other immigrant kids would feel safe in my class.

I told him I’d spend some time and money to make it playable—he beamed at the idea. He gave me the go-ahead to strip it all the way down. It’ll be his guitar in spirit even if only the body’s left. So here is my question:

With a budget of four or five hundred, is it possible to make this guitar play decently? And, how would you go about this process?