EVANSTON — Easter colors, candy and flowers decorated the Lyman Heritage Barn as Make a Child Smile volunteers gathered to celebrate their 17th year of loving crafting. They also brought nearly 150 quilts and throws along to donate to Primary Children’s Hospital, organizer Ruth Rees said. 

Make a Child Smile, created by Rees 17 years ago, has organized quilt donations to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City ever since its inception as a 4-H group project.

“I had been a 4-H leader, and I started it because kids struggled with what to do for a community service project,” Rees told the Herald. 

However, she quickly realized that she wanted to open the project up to crafters of all ages who wanted to donate to the hospital, and a couple of years after the project first started, Lori Jensen joined the team. And ever since, Make a Child Smile has blossomed and brought immeasurable comfort to sick children and their families. 

Primary Children’s Hospital gift-in-kind coordinator Marie Hendriksen told the Herald that Make a Child Smile is a unique organization that the hospital has come to depend on every year. One of the things that sets it apart is the combination of quality and quantity as well as dependability.

“The quality of quilts, the thought that goes into them, the fact that they are so child-friendly — they’re extremely helpful for families and the patients because when a child is feeling better, then it impacts the whole family,” she said. “They’re just gorgeous and amazing and unique.”

She estimated that Make a Child Smile could have donated around 1,700 quilts and throws over the last 17 years, although no one has a definite number. Rees also thought that the organization has donated quilts and throws in the thousands. 

This year, organizers Jensen and Rees also rejoiced to see record-breaking attendance at the Make a Child Smile Party, where quilters and families came together to see the quilts and honor both the quilters and the local children who have needed extra support. 

Rees told the Herald that attendees hailed from Evanston, Kemmerer, Green River, Rock Springs, Bridger Valley, and even a representative from Primary Children’s Hospital was there — Marie Hendriksen, gift-in-kind coordinator. 

Hendriksen said that the hospital has 289 beds (including 50 cribs or isolettes for premature babies or infants needing surgery) and serves newborns to 20-year-olds in five states and is adding still more states to its network. The number one procedure needed, Hendriksen said, is heart surgery, and last year the hospital served 900 children with cancer. She also said that the hospital is excelling on the U.S. News and World Report, scoring nationally in 10 specialties. 

Hendriksen told the attendees that the hospital has had quilts on beds for more than 96 years, thanks to gifts and volunteers, and thanked the quilters for their loving work. 

“I am looking into your selfless faces and know that I am looking into the faces of our patients’ angels,” she said. 

Quilts are assigned to children’s beds individually, as nurses wait until they know the age and gender of a patient to choose a quilt. The hospital’s theme is also superheroes and “zero harm,” with staff seeking to make a difficult time as easy as possible. 

“There’s so many stories I could tell you about what a difference these quilts make for families and for children,” she said before giving Rees and Jensen special recognition for their service. 

Hendriksen told the Herald afterward that the quilts are used for a variety of purposes. Many are put on beds and used at the end of chemotherapy and given to the children as they leave. Some, though, are given to comfort grieving families, providing memories and help in their darkest days. 

However they are used, Hendriksen said that the hospital is always ready for new quilts at the beginning of the next year. 

Rees shared more information about the project at the meeting on Tuesday, including that Make a Child Smile started to regularly pass the 100-quilt mark in 2010. The project draws donations of fleece throws that are used all over the hospital and quilts that are given to the sickest children — those who have finished chemotherapy or are suffering from major surgeries or cancers or life-threatening illnesses and injuries. 

She then described what it is like to deliver the quilts to the hospital. Last year, two vehicles were stuffed to the brim with quilts, and the arrival often draws a crowd of people bursting with enthusiasm and questions and admiration. 

“I have heard so many times at the hospital, ‘Those Wyoming women are amazing,’ and I agree. You guys are amazing,” Rees said. “I leave the hospital with a tear in my eye, a lump in my throat and a very happy heart. I have been a lucky, lucky person to be able to deliver a car full of sunshine, or as I like to call them, mini-miracles.” 

Memories of parents pacing the halls with pain in their eyes linger in her memory, as do the stories she has heard of families’ suffering and distress — and how the kindness of strangers can relieve families of a little of their burden. 

“So many heartbreaking stories. Every day, there are families that are suffering the unthinkable, living their life with unbearable heartache,” she said. “That is why what we do is so important. We bring the sunshine; we bring the moment of hope; we bring the happy tears.” 

The awards were then given out for outstanding quilts, and several local children who were patients at Primary Children’s Hospital were given bears. Logen Snyder was also given a quilt. 

At the end of the party, everyone sang “Zip a dee doo dah” together.