Darren Johnston explodes out of the banker’s box to fight for MacKids
By Jeff Hicks
KITCHENER —
You’ve heard of a banker’s box?
Stiff, cardboard and rectangular. Full of files and documents. Sealed with a lid and stored in the musty darkness of the murky basement.
Now, meet Darren Johnston.
He’s the banker who boxes — as one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity preparing for their first bout to fundraise for MacKids in the bright boxing spotlight on April 24.
And the vice president of commercial banking for TD Bank South Central Ontario is busting out of that old banker’s box one punch at a time.
“This is so NOT you,” his dad Patrick told his soon-to-be-54-year-old son of his sudden emergence as a poster boy for the Sweet Science.
“You’re the kind of person who stands in the background and doesn’t want the attention.”
You definitely don’t want to get socked in the face in front of a sold-out Tapestry Hall in Cambridge.
But Johnston, the vice president of the Waterloo Regional Health Network, will lay his cushy croupier’s office on the line for charity.
Community leadership hath its pugilistic privileges.
“I was a fairly boring banker up to this point,” said the Whitby-born Johnston who was more familiar with football and rugby growing up.
“You can be a banker. You can sit in your office all day. But, at the end of the day, you have be part of the community.”
Leading with your chin then.
His Western University attending kids — physics-math happy Tyler and artsy singer-songwriter Liv — see the way dad has put his face on the line for the cause. Suddenly, he’s a social media maven.
“They’re quite impressed by that.”
His wife Trish, a Health Network nurse for over two decades, lends a sympathetic ear to her suddenly boxing-smitten banker husband.
“I’m obsessed now,” he admitted.
“I think she can’t wait til it’s done so I stop talking about it.”
Fight night is coming up fast. Donations are closing in on the $750,000 goal after the previous three Champions for Charity editions brought in more than $1-million for MacKids.
This year, they’ll also help Waterloo Regional Health Network purchase an additional echocardiogram machine for its paediatric clinic through a 50/50 draw and silent auction.
“Everybody rallies around health care,” Johnston said.
So much of his time and attention, as a community leader, has been focused on the amalgamation of St. Mary’s and Grand River hospitals.
Now, it’s time to climb out of the metaphorical banker’s box and climb onto the boxing canvas.
“This is brand new to me.”
His favourite tune from Liv — a song about fear and healing called Wine —is too chill to be his walkout song. He prefers vintage Van Halen instead, with a driving Hot Rod anthem Panama.
Stiff and cardboard? Hardly. Being a Champ has changed Johnston.
“It has dialled back the clock a little bit for me.
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Our Champion Spotlight is brought to you by Lee Kieswetter Heavy Civil.
