Teri and Kris Robinson own a Whidbey Island home to which they plan to retire. Years ago, Teri Robinson contacted Whidbey General Hospital, indicating that she wished to make donations of baby blankets to the Whidbey Family Birthplace.

She started with flannel and calico quilts, and then began sending flannel blankets for the newborns.

One year she asked if the staff might accept a more festive blanket for babies born in December. Robinson’s younger brother was born in December, and she remembered that he came home tucked in a red felt stocking (a gift from the hospital). The picture of him was a very much-loved part of each Christmas for her family. She proposed sending some red, baby-sized stockings to the hospital in Coupeville with which to swaddle the newborns .

For the third year in a row, local December babies born at the hospital have gone home in Robinson’s quilted red stockings.

Trish Rose, public relations director at Whidbey General Hospital, said Whidbey Island holds a special place in people’s hearts, whether they live here or not, because of the large-hearted and personal generosity of people such as Teri Robinson.