Loss of baby girl leads to launch of project for new moms, babies

Erica and Spencer Hogan’s daughter Piper Marie was born at Sault Area Hospital Oct. 14, 2020.

The infant passed away the same day.

The Hogans carried on under their burden of grief, caring for their oldest daughter and running their own locally-owned business.

Erica Hogan, speaking to SooToday, described support received from family and friends as “immense.”

Since October 2020, the Piper Project, launched by the Hogans in memory of their daughter, has been providing new, donated children’s books to mothers at Sault Area Hospital’s maternity ward as gifts for them to take home and read to their newborns.

“(The Piper Project) started because (when Piper passed away) people kept calling us, friends and family and community members who know Spence and I reached out and kept saying ‘what can we do?,’” Erica Hogan said.

“What we wanted was just to have Piper home, so when people were asking ‘what can we do to help you’ we said why don’t you donate a book, and if we can collect 20 books, that’s 20 books we can donate to the hospital and they can give them out to new babies. At the funeral we had over 200 books collected.”

“We were blown away.”

The Hogans now collect new, donated books all year round for the Piper Project.

The couple’s goal was to collect 10 donated books per day for October 2021 - for a total of 310 books for the month that would have marked Piper’s first birthday - to be distributed to mothers at SAH’s maternity ward to read to their newborn babies.

Local businesses such as Arthur Funeral Home - Barton & Kiteley Chapel and Jax&Hail Sugaring Parlour acted as official book donation drop off locations.

The Hogans more than reached their goal, collecting 888 books in October 2021.

Since October 2020, 2,153 books have been donated for the Piper Project (as of Nov. 8, 2021).

Feedback for the Piper Project from new moms at SAH has been “fantastic,” Hogan said.

“(New donated books) range from Dr. Suess to tons of local authors here in Sault Ste. Marie, such as Jennifer Barone and Kirstin Dias. We get tons of local books, which is fantastic.”

“When we were having Emma (the Hogans’ youngest daughter) not too long ago, many nurses came in and saw our name on the door because they know who Spence and I are, and told us mothers who were coming in were ecstatic.”

Hogan said an author from Indiana who wrote a book about losing a child donated 20 copies of the book to the hospital for grieving parents.

Hogan praised the cooperation of Sault Area Hospital’s Women & Children’s Health Program in assisting with the Piper Project.  

“Obviously, at the time when we had Piper and she passed away, not only was the entire nursing team more than compassionate, but to actually get this project going we had to work with them in order to be able to distribute these books to every new child that was born.”

“So, in addition to their busy day and making sure that baby and mom’s health are fine, they're now taking the extra step and making sure that these books are given out to every child.”

“These are just little books, that’s all they are, but for it to flourish into something so fantastic, in such a positive light, it’s really beyond words.”

New books may be donated by mail or dropped off at Hogan’s Homestead (Erica and Spencer’s maple syrup shop on Second Line West) year-round.

“Every single baby born at Sault Area Hospital receives a book (while donations continue and supplies last),” Hogan said.

“Sault Area Hospital sees an average of 900 babies born each year. Right now we’ve got at least two years of books for them. In November we’re already at 27 books collected.”  

Word of the Piper Project has spread largely through word of mouth, the project’s Facebook page and website.

The Hogans will be setting up free libraries in the spring so that any child in the community may have access to a free new (or gently used) book.

“‘Why books?’ everyone asks. We read to our oldest daughter Sophie frequently. She said to us ‘I want to read books to my new baby,’ which was Piper. That was how it started. Reading is so important to us, and unfortunately a lot of homes in Canada don’t even have access to books for children. So, if this is just one book that we can add, then it’s worth it.”

“I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone,” Hogan said, reflecting on the grief she felt over the loss of her child.

“No parent is ever prepared to lose a child. Children bring hope and a future. When we found out that wasn’t going to happen for Piper, that we would never be able to bring her home to our oldest daughter who wanted to read books to her, words can’t even put into place the emotions that you feel.”

Still, Hogan said “Piper was alive for about 36 minutes that day, but her little life has definitely made an impact for people through the Piper Project. No matter how short your life may be, there can be a change or impact. Her life was short, but look how many lives she’s impacted one book at a time.”

Piper was Erica and Spencer Hogan’s second child.

They are the happy parents of two other daughters - three-year-old Sophie and Emma, born Oct. 19, 2021.

“I have two at home and one watching over us,” Erica said.