Newtown resident Lisa Yu visited Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps (NVAC) headquarters on January 25, to thank its responders for helping her family on a few occasions. She arrived with a donation that will help NVAC’s members calm children when they must go for a ride in an ambulance.

Yu is a consultant for Usborne Books and More, publishers of “...educational and engaging books for children of all ages,” she said. Usborne also offers many opportunities for fundraisers and gives consultants the chance to help various organizations.

Yu is also the wife of a first responder and the author of My Daddy Is A Firefighter and My Mommy Is A Firefighter. The books were inspired in large part by Yu’s husband Garvin, a career firefighter.

The Yu family has counted on Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps a few times, according to Lisa.

“My son has taken a few ambulance rides to the hospital due to severe food allergies,” she said.

It was on one of those trips that she was inspired to help those who stand ready to help others 24/7/365.

“On one such trip he was given a small stuffed animal,” she said. “It truly calmed him and made the experience much easier.”

Yu then launched her fundraiser, with the intent of purchasing the stuffed animal-book sets for her hometown ambulance corps.

NVAC Chief Ryan Horn and member Rabiya Johnston welcomed Yu when she arrived at 6 Washington Square with her donation. They helped Yu unload the boxes she had in the back of her vehicle, filled with dozens of hardcover copies of Cuddle Bear.

Each copy of the book by Claire Freedman and Gavin Scott is accompanied by its own wrapped teddy bear, to be shared with children as sets, Yu said.

Horn described the donation as unique in that the bears are part of a set with the children’s book. The donations, he said, are helpful for pediatric patients and their parents.

“Parents are usually very pleased that we carry stuffed animals and toys on the ambulance,” he said. “It’s another added layer of comfort for the parent and the children, during a scary time.”

Yu said the donations may also help children when they see others being taken somewhere by ambulance.

“As the wife of a first responder, I understand there are also situations where young children have to see someone they love be loaded into an ambulance,” she said. “My goal is to bring them some comfort in these difficult moments, whatever it may look like for them and their family.”

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Associate Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.