American Heart Association collecting red baby hats for Little Hats, Big Hearts program

The American Heart Association is kicking off this year's Little Hats, Big Hearts campaign by collecting knitted or crocheted red baby hats.

The hats will be distributed to babies born in hospitals throughout the Chicago area during February, American Heart Month.

Hats will be collected from now through Dec. 31, and volunteers are encouraged to visit www.heart.org/LittleHatsBigHearts for hat patterns and more information about the initiative.

The Little Hats, Big Hearts program raises awareness of heart disease, the number one killer of Americans, and congenital heart defects, the most common type of birth defect in the country.

The American Heart Association is looking for hats in newborn sizes, made of yarn that is red, cotton or acrylic, medium to heavy weight, and machine washable and dryable.

Donations of yarn are also gratefully accepted.

The Little Hats, Big Hearts program started in Chicago in 2014. The program expanded nationwide in 2016, and last year the American Heart Association distributed more than 100,000 hats to newborns in 43 states across the country.