More than 600 stockings will be left at Chinook Regional Hospital patients’ bedside on Christmas morning. The annual Operation Christmas Stocking project is sponsored by the Friends of the Chinook Regional Hospital Foundation and has been around for more than 40 years.
“The Christmas stocking program actually started many years ago back in the 70s when the nurses made the stockings and we sent babies out in a big red stocking to their mother and it has evolved since then,” said Bobbi Harvey, who was stuffing the stockings with gifts on Dec. 19. “It’s great — I have been doing this probably for 25 years, maybe more.”
Students from schools in the city and community volunteers also wrote letters for patients, which will be in the stockings. Harvey said these are called “letters of hope” and she believes they could bring a tear to patients’ eyes.
“I think the patients really appreciate them and some of them will keep their stockings,” Harvey said. “Some of them are beautifully made and some people will keep them forever or they will pass them on in their family afterwards too.”
Night shift nurses will distribute the stockings on the night of Christmas Eve and the emergency room will also get some to go to new admissions. The project is coordinated by Volunteer Resources and involves about 500 volunteers. Â