Local Boy Scouts Team Up with Riverton Hospital To Wrap-Up Holiday Babies in Special Christmas Stockings

Each baby born in December at Riverton Hospital will be wrapped up in a giant Christmas stocking – instead of the usual blanket – and handed to each new mom.

Riverton Hospital expects to deliver about 200 babies during December. To keep up with the demand for stockings, the hospital enlisted the help of a bunch of elves to sew the stockings. The elves were actually local Boy Scouts.

Thirteen-year-old Cameron Heppler thought it would be fun to sew the stockings for his Eagle Scout Project and asked his troop (#1258) to help. They ended up making 230 stockings.

“In the past, the nurses have volunteered their time to sew the stockings, but I thought it would be nice if they didn’t have to sew them this year,” says Cameron.

Cameron even took sewing classes to prepare.

Riverton Hospital has provided oversized stockings for December babies every year since the hospital opened in 2009. Other Intermountain hospitals, including Alta View Hospital in Sandy, is also doing stockings for newborns. 

“Sewing is fun. It’s kind of like driving a car, when you push the pedal and guide the fabric,” says Cameron. It took a group of 13 scouts and 6 adults almost two full days to sew the stockings. “It was the most fun thing I’ve ever done,” he adds.

Some scouts had never sewn before, but once they learned, they really enjoyed it. Cameron even recognized the need for proper instruction and quality control to make sure there weren’t holes or other mistakes.

At Alta View Hospital, Cecilia Wilson her sewing friends Joyce Christiansen, Juli Mabey, Sharon Koch, JaNiece Warren, and Kelly Cram made close to 100 stockings, which we’ll wrap newborns in when they go home from the hospital during the holidays.

“This year’s total is even more than these same ladies made last year,” says Tarian Auker, director of volunteers at Alta View Hospital. "I can't believe how quickly they get this many stockings made for us and how cute they are."

The stockings should wrap up all the babies in the Alta View Hospital Nursery — since last year they had over 100 babies born between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. “Families so appreciate these adorable stockings and the staff love to give them out,” says Auker. “Big thanks to the volunteers for this contribution to our hospital. They play a big role in helping make Alta View a friendly place to be.”