This Writer Walked To Every Single Library In Toronto To Honour Her Mom

There’s going for a long walk, and then there’s embarking on a bona fide journey. Writer Marci Stepak chose to undertake the latter this month—and she did it for her mom.  

Her mother Eunice, a voracious lifelong reader, passed away on April 7, 2025. In her honour, Stepak decided to visit every single one of Toronto’s 100 public libraries and raise money for the Toronto Public Library Foundation. That active tribute took 10 days and covered nearly 300 kilometres across the city (and all kinds of weather, including rain and snow). Along the way, Stepak collected stamps in her library passport from each of the city’s libraries.  

Stepak started her trek on April 7 and ended on April 17. By the end, she was “hobbling” but humbled by the outpouring of support she received along the way.

The halfway point of the journey was one of the hardest, she shares. “I was in a lot of pain. I wasn't going to make it to my last library of the day before it closed.”

She was within a block or two of her destination when a woman approached her on the street. That woman was a librarian at the library she was trying to get to, Stepak says. “She was holding a basket that had San Pellegrino and Bear Paws inside.”  

The librarian had heard Stepak was running behind, so she came to meet her and add a stamp to her passport.

It was those acts of kindness and support that surprised Stepak most about the experience. That, and the agonizing shin splints. (“They are so painful,” she laughs.)

Stepak and her mom, Eunice.

When she originally conceived of the idea she believed it was going to be a very “quiet solo walk,” she says. But “nothing about the walk turned out the way I thought.”

Stepak says she was open to being accompanied along the way, but the number of people who showed up to cheer and walk alongside her turned the experience into a noisy and jovial community celebration.

“The whole thing turned out to be about people showing up and joining in—sometimes it was the librarians themselves or friends and people I’d never met who had heard about it and were following along,” says Stepak.

An old boyfriend even stepped up to the plate one day, walking to five libraries in time to get her passport stamped for her when she was trailing behind, slowed by fatigue.

“My mom would have gotten such a kick out of it,” she says.

By the time Stepak finished the walk on April 17, she’d more than doubled her original funding goal, raising more than $10,000.

“My mom was my favourite person in the world,” says Stepak, who shares she’s still processing what the walk meant to her and how it has affected her grieving.

“It’s only been a couple days since I finished, but the experience was such a perfect example of who my mom was as a person. She was curious and really interested in people. That it turned into such a communal experience. That was her. I think that was the life lesson she wanted me to get out of this.”