2010 Award Recipient - Mac Voisin
Mac Voisin, Founder and Chair, M&M Meat Shops; Philanthropist; Community Leader, 2010
Mac Voisin was selected as the recipient of HCCC's 2010 Award of Distinction. The selection committee considered a range of criteria such as volunteerism, scope of influence, geographic scope of service, community outreach and the advancement of the charitable health sector. Mr. Voisin was chosen for his considerable contributions to the charitable health sector through his work with the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC), where he made a tremendous difference through his support for cure-directed research into a common disease - inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD was a previously "orphaned" disease in the sense that little research funding occurred in this area in Canada prior to his involvement.
Through Mac's support, and by extension the more than 465 M&M Meat Shops franchisees from coast-to-coast in Canada, the CCFC significantly advanced the health research agenda for the more than 200,000 Canadians affected by IBD and, by extension, influence public policy. Without the support of Mac Voisin, it is possible that IBD would have remained an "orphaned" disease in Canada.
With Mr. Voisins support, the CCFC, Canada's leading funder in IBD research became the number one per capita funder of IBD research in the non-governmental sector in the world and one of the top globally in absolute terms. His support enabled the CCFC to fund genetic discoveries for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis; contribute to better therapies; and launch the "Framingham Study" for IBD - a $5.5 million GEM (genetic, environmental, microbial) Project involved twenty regional collaborative centres across Canada and up to 5,000 persons being followed over a period of five years to find out what triggers Crohn's disease. Without Mac's support of the CCFC and IBD research, the GEM Project would not have been possible.
Over the past 21 years Mac and his associates raised an astounding $18.3 million towards finding a cure for inflammatory bowel disease. This represents approximately one quarter of all IBD research funded by the CCFC over the past two decades. Mac is an inspiration to other philanthropists. There can be no doubt that he has made an outstanding difference in the lives thousands of Canadians, in addition to people suffering from Crohn's and Colitis worldwide.
The members of HCCC thank Mac for his exceptional contributions to the charitable health sector. The Health Charities Coalition of Canada 2010 Award of Distinction was presented to Mac Voisin on April 8th in Toronto during its Annual Roundtable Meeting.
Mac with Max Beck (right), Chair, HCCC
From Left to Right: Dr. Kevin Glasgow, CEO, Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada; Marcela Bahar; Mac Voisin; Max Beck, Chair, HCCC; Deirdre Freiheit, Executive Director, HCCC.
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