Five-year-old Izzy Marchenko is at it again reading as many books and raising as much money as possible for the MS Society of Canada’s annual MS Read-a-Thon.
When it comes to reading, Stratford’s Izzy Marchenko is a little competitive.
As part of last year’s MS Read-a-Thon fundraiser for The Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Izzy, now 5, read a total of 750 books and raised roughly $6,500 in less than two months. That gave her the distinction of having read the most books among any participant across Canada and having funded the second-highest amount toward MS research and supports for Canadians like her mom, Lindsey Marchenko, who are living with the disease.
And Izzy’s hard work was recognized last year. Not only was she featured in the news — both in print and on TV — but she was also included in the live-stream kickoff for the 2022 MS Read-a-Thon’s Bookworm Buddies book club on Jan. 17.
“I’ve had a lot of meetings,” Izzy said of the live stream. “It was very hard.”
“It was really cool,” Lindsey Marchenko added. ” … They asked her some questions — her and the top fundraiser (Connor Hayes).”
At six years old, Hayes raised more than $13,750 for the read-a-thon in 2021.
While Izzy is quite proud of the fact that she read the most books in last year’s fundraiser, she’s using the example Hayes set last year as motivation to raise even more money this year.
“Connor was first because he was on the news,” Izzy said with just a hint of jealousy.
Though Connor may have had the edge in fundraising last year, so far this year — just two days after the MS Read-a-Thon officially began on Jan. 27 — Izzy had managed to read more than 70 books and raise over $1,500, though her mom said she had a bit of a head start and began reading for the fundraiser when registration opened in December.
While Izzy says she won’t be reading nearly the same number of books she read last year, she has set a goal for herself of reading 150 books, many of which are much longer than those she read in 2021. On Saturday, she said she was reading Charlotte’s Web, just one of dozens of books she has borrowed from the Stratford Public Library for the fundraiser.
“I read like lightning,” Izzy said.
“I think participating in the read-a-thon last year astronomically advanced her reading,” Lindsey Marchenko said. “She can read punctuation and she’ll do little voices because she knows when characters are speaking.”
Izzy is even writing her own book called The Very Good Egg, which one could assume will also be added to the list of the books she’s read for the 2022 read-a-thon once she’s finished it.
And, as she did last year, Izzy is encouraging other kids to join her in reading and raising money for the MS Society of Canada between now and when the fundraiser ends on Feb. 28.
“(It’s) to help people who have MS,” Izzy said. “And maybe older kids can read too, or your parents can help read.”
“I think it’s great for her to be involved at such a young age,” Lindsey Marchenko said. ” … This is something she’s passionate about directly leading towards helping people with MS. She loved reading even before she began participating last year and it was just a natural fit.”