SALT LAKE CITY — The American Heart Association and The Children's Heart Foundation are looking for volunteers who can create tiny red hats for babies born in February, designated as American Heart Month.
The project — dubbed “Little Hats, Big Hearts” — aims to spread awareness about heart disease and congenital heart defects, which affect about 40,000 babies born in the country each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Come February, the caps will be handed out to infants in hospitals in more than 40 states. Participating hospitals in Utah include Primary Children’s Hospital, LDS Hospital, Salt Lake Regional, American Fork Hospital, Intermountain Medical Center and Utah Valley Hospital.
Hundreds of volunteers knitted or crocheted 90,000 tiny caps in a recent year for the project.
If you’d like to take part or donate yarn, log on to heart.org and search for “Little Hats, Big Hearts.” There you’ll find contact information and hat patterns. Caps can be created for premature or full-term babies.
“Little Hats, Big Hearts” started in 2014 in Chicago and quickly expanded nationwide.