Stratford’s most ambitious young reader aims to read 500 books for this year’s MS Read-a-Thon

The books she’s reading may be getting longer, but that isn’t slowing down six-year-old Izzy Martchenko as she aims to read a total of 500 books for this year’s MS Read-a-Thon fundraiser.

Now in the midst of her third year participating in the annual fundraiser for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Izzy has become the local poster child for reading and raising money in support of MS patients. While her prime motivation is – and always will be – to support people who are living with MS, like her mom, Lindsey Marchenko, her success as last year’s top fundraiser and the second highest in 2021 is due to the fact that Izzy just loves to read.

“I’ve been doing (the Read-a-Thon) since I was four years old,” Izzy said in a recent interview with the Beacon Herald. “I was reading when I was two, I think. I’m reading bigger books (this year) than last year and the year before that.”

“The very first year, she read lower-level books because she was just learning how to read,” Lindsey Marchenko added. “The second year she was really focused on reading the bigger books because she was so excited she could, and then this year we’re kind of doing a combo because it can be very exhausting for a six-year-old to read chapter books constantly.”

While the Read-a-Thon is not meant to be a competition, Lindsey Marchenko said Izzy really enjoys setting personal reading goals each year for fun and a bit of motivation. Since about mid-January, when registration for the Read-a-Thon opened, Izzy has already read more than 300 books, which she gets from family, friends, neighbours, the Stratford Public Library, her school library, a little neighborhood book exchange she and her mom found near their home in Stratford, on her Kobo e-reader and anywhere else she can get them.

As of Thursday, Izzy had raised roughly $1,600 of her $5,000 fundraising goal for this year’s Read-a-Thon. Izzy and her mom will continue collecting donations online at www.msreadathon.ca/fundraisers/IsabellaMarchenko/read-a-thon-2023 until April 30, but they have also come up with a number of other creative ways to meet Izzy’s goal.

“This year, things are costing so much more – people are struggling financially – so I have a feeling it’s going to be little bit harder for people to give individual donations,” Lindsey Marchenko said. “People have to pick where they’re putting their money, and I totally get that. So that’s why I tried to work with Izzy to come with ideas of other things that we can do and get those local partnerships going.”

One of those partnerships is with Kate Jacobs of K8thegr8 Designs in Sebringville, who designed and printed a T-shirt based on Izzy’s drawing of a bookworm. They’re selling the T-shirts for $25 and donating $10 from each sale to Izzy’s Read-a-Thon fundraiser.

Sirkel Foods in Stratford is also selling its Izzy-wich on April 17, with a portion of the proceeds going back to the sandwich’s namesake while Fanfare Books in Stratford is donating 30 per cent of all April 1 sales to Izzy’s fundraising efforts. Stratford custom gifts and décor shop Stilettos & Sawdust is designing a custom Izzy the Bookworm sign, with proceeds going to support Izzy’s Read-a-Thon.

Izzy and her family are also hosting a book sale at Bedford public school on April 15 from 10 am to 2 pm The Marchenkos are currently collecting donated books, with all the proceeds from the sale to be added to Izzy’s fundraising total. K8theGr8 Designs will also be on hand that day selling Izzy the Bookworm shirts.

To donate books to Izzy’s book sale, email Lindsey Martchenko at [email protected], and to stay up to date with all of Izzy’s reading and fundraising efforts, follow Izzy the Bookworm on Facebook and instagram.

In addition to reading as many books as she can and raising money for the MS Society of Canada, Izzy has also inspired her Grade 1 class at Bedford to take on the Read-a-Thon challenge. For more information and to donate to Mme. Kuepfer’s Grade 1 Class’ Read-a-Thon, visit www.msreadathon.ca/fundraisers/MmeKuepfersGrade1Class/read-a-thon-2023.

“Izzy, do you think others should do the Read-a-Thon?” Lindsey Marchenko asked her daughter during their interview with the Beacon Herald.

“Of course they should,” Izzy shot back, furrowing her brow as if the answer was obvious.

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