John and Cindy Grant

Proactively putting together an estate plan for the inevitable is never an easy task. Yet for Drs. John and Cindy Grant, it was quite simple thanks to their longstanding history with Children’s of Alabama.

“We’re both intimately affiliated with Children’s and we’ve developed a real love for it,” explains John. “I have given my entire career to it. Just because I will stop working one day and we can’t live forever doesn’t mean we can’t continue that support because we believe in what it does.”

The Grants’ relationship with Children’s began in the late 1980s when John came to Alabama for his six-year general surgery residency. Though his training eventually took them out of state for a few years, they came back in 1997 and he has been part of the faculty ever since.

“It has always been an incredible place to work,” John shares. “I smile all day long. Everyone who works at Children’s is there because they want to be there and you feel that throughout the entire facility.”

Having worked at Children’s for so many years, John has seen its incredible growth over the decades, going from a small community hospital to a powerhouse in the southeast that draws physicians and patients from all over the world and is consistently ranked among the best hospitals in the country.

Much of that is thanks in part to the monetary donations given to the hospital over that time. In fact, John has even been the recipient of a program put in place thanks to those donations: the program brings in physicians from developing nations to Children’s to train for a year.

“I’ve witnessed firsthand how the hospital uses the money they are given wisely,” he says. “There are so many examples of funds provided to Children’s that have allowed for truly exceptional work to be done.”

That work even includes support received by Cindy, who as a local veterinarian once relied on the help of Children’s poison control services for a patient that came in her office.

“At that time, we didn’t have a poison control for animals, so I called Children’s,” she explains. “It’s not an understatement to say that Children’s impacts the community in so many ways.”

Not having children of their own — and extended family being grown and independent — it was an easy decision for the Grants to include Children’s in their final estate plan when the time came. And that decision was further solidified over the years as the hospital and its staff has become like a second family to the Grants.

“The return on an investment put in Children’s cannot be measured in dollars,” Cindy says. “It’s truly priceless. We know that every dollar given to them will be managed well and that they can do more good with it than we could ever imagine.”

Adds John, “For anyone considering a financial gift to Children’s, I would say do it. If not because they are a trustworthy organization that positively impacts the community, the state, and the world, but for the children. Children are the future, and anything you can do to help make things better for them is a good thing to do.”

Discover how you can make a difference in the lives of the patients at Children’s Hospital Alabama through your estate plan. Contact Leann Pelliccio at 205.638.9017 and priscilla.pelliccio@childrensal.org today to learn more.