ACK Celebrates Donations in Action at MacKenzie Forbes Society Cocktail
On Tuesday, September 16th, 2025, Andy Collins for Kids (ACK) Directors Jake, Tegan, Isabella, and Alexandra Ciocca joined staff from the Montreal Children's Hospital, other not-for-profit representatives, individual donors, and families of young patients for the MacKenzie Forbes Society Cocktail. It proved to be a wonderful opportunity to hear from Dr. Sam Daniel, current Surgeon-in-Chief at the hospital, and remind all of us how our hard work benefits global communities as well as individual children.
Dr. Alexander MacKenzie Forbes founded the Montreal Children’s Hospital in 1904 and served as its Surgeon-in-Chief until 1929. This annual event recognizes members of his namesake Society, who have all made a legacy gift to the Children’s through planned gifts such as annuities or, in the case of ACK, an endowment. Legacy gifts are a vital source of funds that enable the hospital to focus on priority needs and remain flexible in the face of unexpected challenges.
As well as meeting other donors who shared inspiring stories about their reasons for legacy giving, a highlight was Dr. Daniel taking time out of his busy surgical schedule to offer insights on how donations help the Children’s remain at the cutting-edge among the global medical community.
The Children’s was the first hospital in Canada with an inter-operative MRI machine, for example, which significantly streamlines the care teams can offer children during surgery. Dr. Daniel’s team is also spearheading the use of new tools during pediatric tonsillectomies; practices that he hopes will spread across Canada. He also shared 2015 footage of a teenage girl in the operating theatre receiving a bone-anchored hearing implant to address deafness in her right ear; the first time the new surgical technique called Minimally Invasive Ponto Surgery (MIPS) had been applied in North America. Her smile at the end of the operation told everyone in the room all we needed to know.
Through these examples, Dr. Daniel demonstrated how donations make a global impact, but ultimately also benefit local children and their families. And Dr. Daniel’s message was a moving one: donations such as the endowment from ACK help the Montreal Children’s Hospital invest in future innovations while maintaining compassion as the foundation of care.
Jake, President of the ACK Board of Directors, comments, “Attending events like the MacKenzie Forbes Society Cocktail are vital in keeping us as a Board, and the wider Buckster community, connected to our mission. This isn’t just a celebration of dollars passing hands, but an opportunity to strengthen ties with the Montreal Children’s Hospital and to keep the broader community at our core. We were thrilled to be invited to hear first hand the difference that community support can make in the lives of families at the Children’s Hospital, and look forward to continuing to support the amazing work by the doctors, nurses and staff at the MCH.”