After 7-year-old Jack Janczuk of Topsham saw pictures of the devastation from Hurricane Sandy, he wanted to know how he could help.
Among those affected by the storm were his grandparents, who live in Mount Vernon, N.Y., just north of New York City and lost power for four days.
“But we were very lucky, because just blocks away” there were trees down and the area looked like a disaster zone, said David Reich, Jack’s grandfather.
Jack and his mother, Jen Reich, who grew up in New York, talked about the impacts of the hurricane — all the children who lost toys and families who lost their homes — and Jack said, “I wonder how we could help? What can we do?”
Jack — a first-grader at Williams-Cone Elementary School in Topsham — helped his family brainstorm ideas and found an idea online — a read-a-thon. Jack pledged to read 20 books to raise money for the American Red Cross Disaster Fund.
With as many as 25 sponsors, he said 20 books was his “first goal.” But after he made it through 20 books, he set a new goal of 40 books, ultimately reading 41 between Nov. 25 and Nov. 30.
Jen Reich said they only held people to their pledges for 20 books, but some gave him money for all 40, saying “a pledge is a pledge, and it’s for a good cause.”
Still collecting the pledge money, Reich said that, when all is said and done, Jack will have raised about $1,200 — which, to a child, will seem like $1 million.
Most everyone who has mailed in checks also wrote Jack personal notes. When he reads them, “he gets a smile across his face.”
“It made me feel really good that I started it and I only thought I would make $25 but I made lots more than that,” Jack said of his fundraiser. “I never thought it would be that much.”
When Reich sent out a mass email explaining Jack’s fundraiser, she noted “we’re not the kind of family that asks people for money.”
“This felt like an exception,” she said.
“You’re helping a child learn about the value of giving back and that not everyone around you is as fortunate as you are,” Reich said. “And I think a very powerful lesson for a child is, ‘I’m small but I can make a little bit of a difference.’”
“We’re very proud of him,” said David Reich.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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