SAN DIEGO — A group of dedicated high school students worked for hundreds of hours knitting hats for premature babies.
In this Zevely Zone, I headed to Kearny Mesa where Miracle Babies received the heartfelt donation.
On a cold day, we all know how necessary it is and how good it feels to slip a beanie on our head. Premature babies feel the same way on their first day on this earth.
"These hats are adorable," said Marianela Camarillo from Miracle Babies.
The non-profit just received five hundred newly knitted baby caps.
"It's the little things we do that matter," said Marianela.
The executive director of the non-profit organization wants to personally thank some busy hands.
"Oh, my goodness the time and effort and they are high schoolers," said Marianela.
Over the past year, high school students from Del Norte have knitted for a total of 800 hours. "It can be tiring, my fingers tend to cramp a lot," said Jina Ranka. Yet, she and her classmates pushed past the pain.
"It makes me really happy that I get to help someone," said Jina.
You've probably heard the saying many hands make for light work.
"There are chapters all over the world," said Aarya Adusumilli. She and her twin sister Aadhya founded the San Diego Chapter of Madhatter Knits to help adorable underdogs.
"They are cute. There's not really much to not love about babies," said Aadhya.
Every newborn suddenly faces a 25-degree temperature drop when they travel from the womb into the world.
"That's a huge shift and so these hats help regulate the baby's temperature, keeps them warm and helps them adjust to conserve energy," said Jina.
"I just feel like I am giving back to the community which is something I want to do," said 16-year-old Sanya Kapoor.
She can make a hat every 40 minutes. Her pile of 300 hats called for the calculator.
"That's 12,000 minutes of knitting. How are your fingers feeling?" I asked.
"Pretty good," said Sanya.
When I asked her how it made her heart feel she said, "It's thriving."
For the past 15 years, Miracle Babies has helped infants in intensive care units across San Diego County and they are now serving 3,500 families a year.
"We just love the idea of helping the community and helping premature babies," said Aarya.
Jina then added, "I really enjoy it because my grandmother taught me how to knit and I can actually use that for something that helps the community."
Every premature baby in the county can receive a Miracle Babies gift bag. Those bags now include little caps that might just help them sleep like a baby. "It's incredible that these young ladies the San Diego Madhatters are just so generous with their time and thinking of others, it's very selfless," said Marianela. "It's stitched with love and it's more than a hat."
This year, the group spent 800-plus hours making more than 800 hats for premature babies. The hats were donated to local hospitals including Rady Children's Hospital.
The students are trying to recruit more members to knit caps. If you are interested in learning how to knit hats with the San Diego Madhatter Knits group, you can contact the San Diego region's leadership team at sdmadhatterknits@gmail.com.