Skip to content

History of Izzy

  1. Home
  2. Get Involved
  3. Volunteer
  4. Izzy Dolls
  5. History of Izzy

Master Corporal Mark Isfeld’s mother Carol created the Izzy Doll so he would have something to give to the children he met while serving as a peacekeeper.

In 1994, Mark was killed while serving in Croatia by a land mine explosion. Mark’s comrades in 1 Combat Engineer Regiment asked Carol to continue making the dolls for them to give out. Before Carol passed away, she gave her blessing to Billy Willbond and his organization ICROSS to carry on promoting, creating and distributing the dolls.

HPIC began working with ICROSS more than a decade ago. Through this partnership, HPIC became a major recipient of the Izzy Dolls. A few years ago, Billy passed the torch to HPIC to continue the mission of bringing comfort and joy to the little children of the world. Billy had three conditions: that HPIC use the dolls to benefit children, that this work be done to honour the memory of Master Corporal Mark Isfeld, and that the dolls not be bought or sold.

We invite you to continue this beautiful story.