These babies in red hats are on a special mission

A new project called 'Little Hats, Big Hearts' hopes to raise heart disease awareness one adorable newborn at a time

Though they may be tiny, these babies in red hats hope to make a big difference in raising awareness for heart disease this month of February 2016.

The love month has been dubbed in the U.S. as ‘American Heart Month’

The inspiring project called ‘Little Hats, Big Hearts’ hopes to spread awareness on heart disease and congenital heart defects.

So far, 90,000 caps have been knitted by hundreds of volunteers in 460 hospitals in 33 states in the U.S.

Babies born during this month will receive their own cap from the American Heart Association.

“The program has helped others emotionally and raises awareness around the No. 1 killer of Americans and the No. 1 type of birth defect,” project coordinator Anne Schullo told TODAY Parents.

babies in red caps

Little Hats, Big Hearts began two years ago (February 2014) in Chicago, Illinois. During that first year, they collected 300 hats. Currently, the project is active in 29 states.

About 40,000 babies with congenital heart defects are born each year, reports the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).

Even though it’s still the leading cause of mortality in infants with birth defects, many of those affected are surviving and thriving, according to the CDC.

Volunteers knitted more than 18,000 hats for the @AHA for #LittleHatsBigHearts. https://t.co/zYhHw2r1Gz pic.twitter.com/R681jZ4McN
— Loyola Medicine (@LoyolaHealth) February 5, 2016

Red hats for tiny babies puts spotlight on big cause via @NapervilleSun #LittleHatsBigHearts https://t.co/t1S01ui4Ab pic.twitter.com/ZkMSVnMKSY
— American Heart Chgo (@HeartChicago) January 29, 2016

Hello world! Babies @Swedish wearing RED for #AmericanHeartMonth #littlehatsbighearts pic.twitter.com/WPcTLk9Ph1
— Robin Sarmento (@RobinKOMO4) February 5, 2016

Anthony and Dante are “working” to raise awareness of congenital heart defects. #LittleHatsBigHearts pic.twitter.com/a1bOeY4yhV
— St. Joseph’s (@StJosephsHealth) February 4, 2016

#LittleHatsBigHearts Raising awareness of congenital heart defects! Congrats to the Sansone family.1st #redhat @ SJH pic.twitter.com/g9GxgkJ9mT
— St. Joseph’s (@StJosephsHealth) February 1, 2016

The cause is close to the hearts of some knitting volunteers. Schullo shared with TODAY that one woman started knitting hats to help her pass the time while waiting for her hospital transplant.

Another wrote to them that their granddaughter was born with half a heart but is now thriving as a healthy and active 16-year-old. So volunteering for the project is their way of giving back.

When the American Heart Association team were passing around the knitted hats at a local children’s hospital, they let the families of the newborns that the caps were knitted by families of heart patients.

One of the dads shared that it made them feel that they’re not alone in their journey.

Thank you to all these @Walgreens employees who volunteered their time to pack hats for #LittleHatsBigHearts! pic.twitter.com/wxwWd3VgVm

— American Heart Chgo (@HeartChicago) January 29, 2016

Thanks @ValpoU nursing students for helping package 800 RED hats for our #LittleHatsBigHearts project! #NWIGoesRed pic.twitter.com/CiXpGnqssB
— American Heart IN (@AHAIndiana) January 28, 2016

WATCH: Dad captures amazing moment when his son wakes up with a new heart

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Written by

Bianchi Mendoza

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