A local junior high student is going to bring comfort to kids going through emergency situations with her new stuffed animal.

After going for a tour of Station 11 on Portage Avenue, 13-year-old Sara Tabac realized that kids who were in the middle of a crisis, such as a fire or crash, may not be able to grab something to make them feel safe. After talking with her mother, Sara decided to get a bunch of stuffed animals together so the firefighters and paramedics could always have some on hand to give to children.

"Every time she talks about it, it's with more and more passion," said Sara's mother, Aviva Tabac. "I knew that the minute her vision was starting to create itself, she was going to take it on."

Sara and her mother were able to team up with the Firefighters' Burn Fund and Red River Mutual to create a special Dalmatian, named Patch, that could be handed out. Aviva says the one thing that Sara wanted was her name on it.

"So a child who gets a stuffed animal will have a heart connection with her," she smiled.

Sara officially introduced the program, called Sara's Safety Friends, today and donated the first 1000 stuffed animals. She hopes to get another 2,500 animals by the end of 2018.

"I can only imagine what it's like to go through a fire and hope that Patch will make the situation a little less scary," Sara said.

Sara's Safety Friends wants to educate young people about the importance of fire safety and Sara says this will be her main focus.