{"id":553531,"date":"2026-03-22T16:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/553531\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T16:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T16:18:18","slug":"toronto-woman-to-visit-100-library-branches-walk-300-km-for-her-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/553531\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto woman to visit 100 library branches, walk 300 km for her mom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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News<\/a>Toronto & GTA<\/a><\/p>\n

Marci Stepak lost her mom to cancer just under a year ago<\/p>\n

Published Mar 22, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 3 minute read<\/p>\n

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\"MarciMarci Stepak, 55, of Toronto pictured her with her late mom, Eunice Photo by SUPPLIED \/Callum O’ ConnorArticle content<\/p>\n

Marci Stepak says she\u2019s walking 300 kilometres to all 100 branches of the Toronto Public Library between April 7-16 as \u201ca love letter\u201d to her late mother, and the TPL.<\/p>\n

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Stepak\u2019s mom, Eunice, died from cancer the day before turning age 88 on April 7, 2025, and her love of the library remained until just a few days before her death when she reminded her daughter, 55, to return her books so that \u201csomeone else can enjoy them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe grew up in the Jane and Finch area so our local library was called York Woods Branch, so she just would take me there every week for story hour,\u201d said Stepak, who moved back to Toronto to take care of her mother after almost two decades of living in Quebec.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably as an excuse to drop me off so she could go smoke Rothmans cigarettes in the parking lot. And then when I got older, she would take me around Toronto to discover the used book shops and different library branches. It was our through line. Our love language was reading, swapping books with each other. And it all started at the library.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Marci Marci Stepak, 55, of Toronto will get her physical passport stamped at as many of the 100 branches of the Toronto Public Library that she\u2019s walking to between April 7-16, 2025 (Valerie Howes) Photo by Valerie Howes<\/p>\n

Stepak\u2019s children, aged 23 and 25, are coming in from Quebec to join her for part of the trek with their partners, along with her aunt and uncle.<\/p>\n

Her own partner will act as Stepak\u2019s crew, keeping her hydrated and fed, and drop her off and pick her up at the various library stops each day and they will occasionally joined by her Husky-Labrador named Tess.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Stepak encourages strangers to join her on part of her walk<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll average 30 kilometres a day, starting the 10-day walk at the York Woods library branch and ending at the Toronto Reference Library, and encourages others to join her or follow her journey on Instagram where she\u2019ll be posting daily on @beingmarci.<\/p>\n

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She has been training\u2014 she walked 180 km hike in Tobermory, Ont., last summer and has been working with physiotherapists on things like ankle strength \u2014 but expects to be sweating a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually want this to be hard,\u201d she said. \u201cI needed somewhere for all this grief to go and I couldn\u2019t control any of the grief but this is something I can arrange so I chose to do it in 10 days to get it done. And it\u2019s going to be a great way to rediscover the city \u2018cause there\u2019s pockets of Scarborough I\u2019ve never been to and parts of Etobicoke I\u2019ve never been to.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of what happens as she visits each Toronto library, there will be no ceremony as such, but she will get her library passport (both paper and the digital versions) stamped at those branches that can accommodate.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Toronto Library Foundation has shared my walk with their community, which is obviously a lot of librarians,\u201d said Stepak. \u201cAnd so a lot of librarians have reached out to me saying, \u2018Hey, we\u2019ve got our stamp ready.\u2019 Or \u2018Let me know when you\u2019re coming in, I\u2019ll walk a portion with you.\u201d Or we want to take your picture.\u2019 So I wouldn\u2019t call it a ceremony but I think there\u2019s going to be lots of fun conversations with the librarians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stepak, who\u2019s a content strategist (writer) for Heart and Stroke, is also fundraising for TPL with a goal of $5,000 and encourages donations through @beingmarci that has a donate button.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me the fact that I haven\u2019t even started this walk yet and people have been reaching out, that type of connection has been the best part of this walk,\u201d she said. \u201cIt obviously makes me feel less alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

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