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Sherry Downard Osterhaus and her granddaughter Tess, 9, knit baby caps while the Old Faithful geyser at Yellowstone National Park spouts in the background. |
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Caps from Old Faithful to the Capital
In the car, at the campsite, on park benches – Sherry Downard Osterhaus and her 9-year-old granddaughter saw Yellowstone Park over their knitting needles this summer. The result was a bundle of tiny caps to help keep newborn babies warm.
“We bought three balls of yarn – pink, blue and white with pink and blue flecks – and we made as many caps as we could out of them,” Sherry said. Her granddaughter, Tess, has been knitting since she was four. “She kept saying she was making caps for the little babies that don’t have any. It was really great.”
A registered nurse now working in human resources in Sheboygan, WI, Sherry learned of Save the Children’s Caps to the Capital project through a coworker. “I thought this is it, this is something I can do to help.”
On each cap, Sherry embroidered her signature small yellow daisy, and she sent all of them, along with her note to President Bush, to Save the Children.
“In recognition of the two million babies who die each year in the first 24 hours of life in developing countries, my granddaughter and I have made these caps,” she wrote in her note to The President.
She observed that she and Tess were privileged to be together in such a beautiful and peaceful place as Yellowstone. “However it reminded us even more that we were doing something worthwhile for persons who don’t have the opportunities that we have,” she wrote. “Please consider your options for helping the countries and the families of the newborns who will wear our hats.”
In her note, Tess said, “My grandma and I made these hats for little babies in the world that need them while we were on vacation in Yellowstone. Please send the hats to the babies. Thank you.”
The caps are from Save the Children’s sample basic pattern. “Those little babies are so tiny and they have so few things of their own,” Sherry said. “And it was good for Tess because she was doing something for someone else.”
Learn more about the Caps to the Capital project.
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