Gift of Life in Holiday Wrapping

During the month of December, the Redlands Community Hospital partnered with the Redlands Sewing Center continued an 83-year-old tradition for the holiday season. Since 1930, the Linen Committee, now known as the Sewing Committee, comprised of hospital volunteers, have wrapped babies born in December in holiday stockings as they head home for the first time. “My favorite part is seeing the new families get excited to see their children go home in the stockings,” said Nikyah Pfeiffer, marketing manager of the Redlands Community Hospital. While the program has been running for over 80 years, there was a brief time that the committee saw a decline in membership and was forced to temporarily halt the program. One volunteer, Sylvia Terifay, was instrumental in restarting the program in 2005. She reached out to many different sewing and crafts organizations while trying to restart the program, but it was the Redlands Sewing Center who answered the call help revitalize the holiday tradition. “It seemed logical to utilize people in the community who like to sew,” said Terifay. “I was ecstatic when I got confirmation from the store owner. I knew Redlands Sewing Center would come through in keeping the tradition alive.” Terifay begins the work for the holiday stockings in August, when she starts collecting the fabric and materials for the stockings. The program has embedded itself throughout the community in the last 83 years. “It’s great to see the replies on social media and the people who still have their stockings from so many years ago,” said Pfeiffer. “This is a true labor of love given by all of the volunteers in the Redlands Sewing Center,” said Lauren Spilsbury, Vice President of Patient Services. “We are so grateful to them for helping us keep such a great tradition alive. The staff loves to present the parents with the stocking, and they are always extremely excited about the gift.” The program has anywhere from five to 15 volunteers annually. As of Dec. 30, there have been 224 babies born in the Redlands Community Hospital who went home in holiday wrapping. “The best part about the tradition has to be seeing all of the babies go home in their stockings,” said Terifay. “Babies are cute enough on their own; the stockings just add a little something extra.”