By Liam Assad, age 8
Dear Holly,
How are the babies doing?
My Nana made these hats so we could give them to the babies with a sick heart. It is are act of kindness. We hope it makes them smile.
Happy Christmas!
Liam Assad, age 8 & Caoimhe Assad, age 7
Each year, our Little Hats, Big Hearts program aims to raise awareness of the importance of newborn and maternal heart health, and educate the community about congenital heart defects (CHD) in babies and children.
The program calls on members of our local community who knit or crochet to make and donate little red hats to our local office here in Providence, R.I. We then sort, clean, package, and deliver the little hats to hospitals across Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts so each newborn born during Heart Month receives a red hat.
Throughout the campaign, we’re flooded with heartwarming messages from our volunteers who make these hats, as well as others in the community that want to contribute by doing things like donating yarn and spreading word about the program. We hear from heart and stroke survivors, parents of children with CHD, and many others who have been touched by cardiovascular disease and stroke.
For the February 2018 Little Hats, Big Heart program, our office in Providence, R.I. collected more than 1,500 hats from local volunteers. Among the many notes we received, was one from two young volunteers, Caoimhe, age 7, and Liam, age 8. The letter Liam wrote, and drawing Caoimhe created embody the mission of the Little Hats, Big Hearts program. These two young children watched as their Nana knit hats for the awareness campaign, and came to understand that some babies who are born with “sick hearts.” Their heartfelt wishes for the babies and new understanding heart health are truly touching.
The American Heart Association of Southern New England would like to thank Caoimhe, Liam, and their Nana and Mother who worked on this project with them. We’d also like to thank every one of the volunteers who made hats for the program, and the hospitals that partner with us to help spread our message about the importance of heart health!
By Caoimhe Assad, age 7
The American Heart Association of Southern New England is no longer accepting donations of hats for the Little Hats, Big Hearts 2018 program. However, as this is an annual project, you can contact [email protected] at any time to make a donation for the following year.