Stuffed animals stitched with purpose: How one Utah mom is bringing comfort to kids around the world

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Utah mom is bringing comfort to kids around the world through stuffed animals.

Sarah Parson is like a modern-day Mrs. Claus. When she logs into her emails, she checks them twice — scrolling through requests for toys from around the world.

“Originally, I used to contact organizations and ask if I could send them bears and dolls, and now I get requests all year long,” Parson said.

Parson runs Dolls of Hope — a nonprofit that makes and sends stuffed animal dolls and bears to refugee children. Her handmade creations have traveled to 52 countries, delivering comfort to more than 100,000 kids.

She says nothing is store-bought. Every toy is stitched by hand.

“I touch every doll and bear that I send, and there’s something special about that. And when the children receive the bears, I really feel like they can feel the love that we put into it,” she told ABC4.

The idea for Dolls of Hope came in 2016, after Parson heard about Syrian refugees fleeing to Greece to escape war.

“And I kept thinking I want to help them, but what can I do?” she added.

Searching for a way to help, she found a woman in Salt Lake who was raising money to buy sleeping bags and boots for the refugees. “So that when the refugees got off the boats and were soaking wet, and it was wintertime, and they were freezing, that they would have something to keep them warm.”

Parson pitched in but asked for one thing in return: a report back on what the woman saw.

The woman agreed. And when she returned, she shared something that stuck with Parson. “They were playing with anything they could find, so trash, nails, scorpions… and that just stayed with me.”

Later, during a car ride with her kids, Sarah had an “a-ha” moment. One of her children asked to turn around and go back for a forgotten stuffed animal — and in that instant, something clicked.

Her kids were obsessed with their stuffies. She’d apologized to them after accidentally stepping on one. She’d played ER doctor, sewing a nose back on after the family dog tore it off. If these toys meant that much to her own kids, maybe they’d be exactly what these other children needed. 

She’d get to see her impact firsthand during a visit to the border. 

“Some of the children started like pretending to feed them like they were babies. Some of the boys were playing soccer, and one little boy put his bear in his shorts because he didn’t want to put it down, in case he would lose it and just to watch how much it changed the children and brought them to life, it’s humbling,” said Parson.

That, Parson says, is what keeps her going. “I hope they know they’re loved. I hope they know that no matter the difficulty they’re going through that we want a bright future for them, we want them to have love and happiness and family and all the things. I want them to know that people are thinking of them.”

And her inspiration for it all, her 5 kids, say they couldn’t be prouder of mom. 

“That’s just who she is. She just loves giving back to others and she doesn’t think about herself,” said her oldest son, Jacob. His sister, Eliana, agreed.

“All my friends who are like, dude your mom is so cool. I’m like, ‘yeah, I know. She’s pretty cool,’” Jacob said.

So cool, in fact, that their youngest already has plans to carry on the mission.

“When I’m like older and my mom can’t do it anymore, I can take on Dolls of Hope,” said Bella.

Because sometimes, a simple stuffed animal isn’t just a toy—it’s a reminder that someone, somewhere, cares.

If you’d like to donate or get involved by making a stuffed animal, visit Dolls of Hope, by clicking here.