THE CHANNERS I COUPLES
Hard to believe these dedicated fundraisers have called Waterloo home for only six years
This pair bring menswear store and more to local community.
MARK CHANNER had never set foot in Waterloo until he attended the funeral of a good friend’s father.
Channer, born and raised in London, didn’t know much about the community, unless you count long-ago visits to the now-defunct Lulu’s Roadhouse or Oktoberfest in Kitchener. When he saw the classy retail space built by First Gulf in Waterloo’s core, it made him think.
Channer was then co-owner, with his brother Peter, of Channer’s Men’s and Ladies Apparel in London. They’d worked together for more than 30 years. He was happy in London; his wife, Carol, who worked in TV sales, was happy in London; and his daughters, Zoë and Mya, were happy in London.
But the opportunity to branch out and open his own store here was enticing. The King Street location in Waterloo was good, and after chatting with retailers and others, he felt there was room for a new high-end menswear store with his name on it.
He liked the feeling the city gave him, and he liked the way it looked.
“He came home from the funeral and said, ‘ What do you think of moving to Waterloo?’ ” Carol says.
“I didn’t want to go,” she remembers, laughing. “He said, ‘Let’s drive around.’ We came and we looked around. He was so excited about it.”
It was difficult to leave friends and family in London and their century-old “dream house” on the river, located near Budweiser Gardens, a big entertainment and sports facility.
“You give up everything you know,” Carol says.
And at 50 years of age then, “I had never moved anywhere” except for a short stint in Hamilton, Mark says.
But Mark’s first time in Waterloo sealed it. Channer’s Men’s Apparel opened on King Street South in Uptown Waterloo in April 2008.
“After many years of being a partner with our store in London, it took one visit to Waterloo to know it was time to branch off and expand into this market.”
The brothers still do their buying together and they trade inventory. “I talk to my brother every day about things,” says Mark, 56.
The decision was right, the couple says, and the family has created strong relationships in the community. They built a timberframe home with a warm, cottage-like >>
>> feel on a beautiful treed property near the Grand River.
They’re known for their store, but also for their charitable spirit — Carol chairs the successful Jeans ‘n Scrubs fundraiser for the region’s three hospitals and launched an annual fashion show fundraiser for ovarian cancer research. In addition, Mark is a generous donor to one cause or another. “There are so many good people here,” says Carol, 48. “It’s a growing community and vibrant and so very alive.” If you know Mark, you’ll also be aware that he’s an enthusiastic fan of the Cleveland Browns football team. The family’s Polish lowland sheepdog is named Cleveland after the team. “I’m very passionate about the Cleveland Browns, the Toronto Maple Leafs and my store,” he says, smiling. Ask 11-year-old Zoë to describe her parents and she doesn’t have to search for words. “My dad is funny, and my mom is loud and crazy,” she says.
Carol’s friendliness, her exuberant, engaging personality and passion for giving are key reasons for the success of Jeans ‘n Scrubs, which raised almost $200,000 last year for Grand River Hospital, St. Mary’s General Hospital and Cambridge Memorial Hospital.
They’re qualities that Mark noticed when he first met her in an Irish pub on a Saturday night in 1999. Carol, then a fundraiser for United Way, was with a group of friends. Mark knew Carol’s mother and father, who shopped at Channer’s in London. He knew her sister who used to work in the same mall in which his store was once located. He knew everyone but Carol. “He came to talk to everyone and fell in love,” Carol says, laughing. In 1999, the brothers had moved their store to a free-standing location on the corner of Wonderland and Commissioners
Roads. Carol’s mother decided to stop by for a new shirt. “So you met my daughter Carol?” she asked him pointedly. “She has always loved Mark,” Carol says of her mother. “I’d heard his name, but I never knew who he was.”
After they’d met, Carol went to the store to ask Mark for a donation for a fundraising auction. He gave her a $600 navy blazer and a shirt and tie. “I was expecting a shirt,” she says. The pair discovered they had a lot in common – running, golf, squash, charity work. And they both knew sales. Carol, a graduate of Humber College and Fanshawe College, had spent 20 years in television sales in Windsor and London. The United Way job was “my first taste of fundraising.” Mark’s marriage proposal was foiled the first time when he discovered a crowd of men around the 18th hole of a Vermont golf course where he was planning to put the engagement ring in the cup. Turns out it was men’s night at the golf course. “Did I want to do that in front of 18,000 men? I kept it in my pocket.” So on the way to Maine, Carol’s family’s favourite summertime place, he pulled the car to the side of a busy road at the “Welcome to Maine” sign. “I said, ‘if I take a picture, you’d better wear this.’” They married in London on May 24, 2002. Both love children. Mark has a daughter, Natalie, from a previous marriage who has two children, ages two and eight months. They decided to adopt a child in China through a non-profit adoption organization called the Children’s Bridge. They waited 18 months, a time lengthened by the SARS health crisis, before they received a photograph of an eight-month-old girl, their soon-to-be adopted daughter. Two months later, in 2003, they were on their way to China to meet Zoë. “It’s an amazing experience,” Carol says. In 2005, Mark, Carol and Zoë returned to China to adopt nine-month-old Mya. >>
>> Mya is now eight.
They’ve kept in close touch with other adoptive parents of children born in China and the children have frequent get-togethers in Waterloo.
Zoë is expressive; she loves life and gets involved in everything, they say. Mya is more laidback, and has a funny, dry sense of humour. They’re both competitive dancers. Zoë attends a French-language school; Mya is in French immersion.
A few months ago, the couple had a reunion at their house with the parents and other Chinese-born children they met when they adopted Zoë. Two girls from Mya’s group live in Waterloo Region with their parents.
“The girls want to get together,” Carol says.
Their house reflects their personalities with its bright, roomy kitchen and dining room (Mark is the cook; Zoë is backup cook), which opens into the living room. Large windows and a screened-in porch are at the rear, overlooking tall, mature trees in the backyard. Striking, colourful paintings by their artist friend Paula White-Diamond are on the walls.
“We’re more casual people and not that formal,” Mark says. “We want people to feel comfortable.” They plan to have a pool installed in the spring.
“We’ll make this like our cottage,” Mark says.
Mark, an optimist, the middle child of a family of 10 boys and a girl, the guy who bought and sold houses with his brother when he was younger, saw the potential for the property, though the sight of its 1950s-era brick bungalow made him pause.
They tried to renovate the old house — until the basement flooded. That was the last straw, they say, and they decided to demolish the old building and take out the foundation. They had to move quickly to get the design and permits for the new house.
But neither is a stranger to hard work. Mark has been in the clothing business since he was 18. When he and his siblings were children, they helped their father, who worked at the Ford plant in London, sell Christmas trees. Mark and his brother delivered newspapers at 5 a.m. every day.
His family had a large fruit stand for years to supplement his father’s income. Farmers delivered their corn to them. The family went to the market in early morning to buy produce for the stand.
It appealed to Mark’s sense of entrepreneurship and his friendly nature to move to Waterloo. Here, people were quickly impressed with the couple’s grasp of the community, its benefits and its needs, and their willingness to roll up their sleeves.
“I like people. I see something good in everybody,” Mark says.
They attended their first fundraising event in Waterloo even before they’d moved here. They made a donation, though the store hadn’t opened yet.
The couple was touched when master of ceremonies Neil Aitchison publicly welcomed them and their store to Waterloo Region. “He said, ‘stand up’ and they applauded,” Mark says. It was a sign of good things to come. “I know more people here than I ever dreamed I’d know,” Mark says.
In the first year of the fashion show, Zoë raised $4,200.
She created a website that explained about ovarian cancer research and promised to cut her hair in exchange for donations.
“I was very happy,” Zoë says. Two years ago, Mya cut her hair for the fundraiser too. The girls help set up tables at the Jeans ‘n Scrubs event. Giving is part of the family’s fabric. “It’s important for the kids to understand they have a good life and health and a warm home and food,” Carol says. “I want them to understand there are people out there in need.
“They see us give to the community and
I think when they see us do it, they’ll want to do it.” Among the family’s commitments, they sponsor a soccer team, a couple of hockey teams, fashion shows and golf tournaments, plus they provide gift certificates to events and individuals, including a $1,000 gift certificate to the Kitchener Rangers player of the year. “They buy suits for the draft,” Mark says. “It’s fun to meet these kids.” “If someone asks Mark for a donation, he never says no,” Carol says, laughing. “Mark’s motto is, you get what you give.”
“It should be part of your plan in life to give back,” Mark says. “If you’re taking from the community, make sure you give back. . . . If I died tomorrow, I’d like to be known as a charitable person.” Having been active in charity work in London – fundraisers for cystic fibrosis, St. Joseph’s Health Care Foundation, cancer research and other causes – the couple upped the ante in Waterloo. “When they came to Kitchener-Waterloo, things didn’t change,” says lawyer and longtime fundraiser David Fedy who helped Carol make connections when she arrived. “Carol just jumped right in and created Jeans ‘n Scrubs and smaller events.” The couple’s willingness to donate is remarkable, Fedy says. “I ask for something and they’re more than willing to give, one way or another.” In 2007 in London, Carol had started Channer’s annual fashion show and auction to raise money for ovarian cancer research. Mark’s lone sister, Mary Foster, died from the disease at the age of 37, as did his 21year-old niece, Sarah Channer. While the annual fundraiser continues in London, Carol got the event underway in Waterloo too. The fashion show fundraiser is in its sixth year here. In five years, the event has raised more than $150,000 in Waterloo for ovarian cancer research. Half of the money raised is given to Grand River Regional Cancer Centre and >>
Through the fundraisers, we meet incredible people. I love people who are positive and energetic and want to do good things. Carol Channer
>> the other half goes toward research at the London regional cancer program.
This is also Carol’s fourth year of involvement in the Spring Promenade Fashion Show, a fundraiser for Hospice of Waterloo Region.
Last year, she dove into one big event – a single fundraiser for all three hospitals, dividing the proceeds equally among the foundations for St. Mary’s General Hospital, Grand River Hospital and Cambridge Memorial Hospital.
This year, the fundraising goal for Jeans ‘n Scrubs, a dinner, dance and auction at RIM Park, is $300,000, Carol says. More than 700 people will attend the event, which has a cottage theme.
Everything is donated for the casual-style event, except the facility rental and tables; Carol is firm about that.
“We don’t have a budget,” she says. “Ask for donations,” she instructed the “fantastic” committee last year, the fundraiser’s first year. “We don’t pay for anything. It’s for the hospitals. That’s it.
“They thought I was crazy,” she says. “Our expenses were less than $20,000. Everyone is so generous in this community. If you ask and explain to people what you’re trying to do, they’ll donate.
“It was so much fun. And through the fundraisers, we meet incredible people. I love people who are positive and energetic and want to do good things.”
Artist White-Diamond, owner of Paula White Diamond Art Gallery + Design Studio in Waterloo and a Jeans ‘n Scrubs committee member, likes the couple’s style, sense of humour and down-to-earth, laidback approach to life. “They don’t put on any airs.”
She says her son, Brendan, 20, has learned a lot about style from Mark who gave him a part-time job in his Waterloo store. A business marketing student at Fanshawe College, Brendan now works part time at the Channer’s store in London.
White-Diamond recalls fun events that she and Carol have attended together, including an Oprah Winfrey appearance in Hamilton. Carol spotted the star at their hotel during dinner and spontaneously called her name. “She did get Oprah’s attention,” she says, laughing.
“She’s a little firecracker,” she says about her friend. “She’s a ball of energy with a good heart.”
The dynamic Jeans ‘n Scrubs committee has met several times and “is ahead of the game” for this year’s event, May 10 at RIM Park, White-Diamond says. “Carol sends out emails almost every day with ideas.”
Fedy, who’s involved in many charitable events, agrees Carol is “a go-getter and a doer.”
“It seems to be in her makeup to want to help and support,” he says. “The goals she set for a first-year event were staggering,” Fedy says. “I said, ‘I’ll help.’”
She’s able to manage a large volunteer committee and multiple tasks.
“It is a huge amount of time spent away from family and other business but she gives it willingly,” Fedy says. What’s more, “she’s always on time,” he says, laughing, adding he can’t always say the same.
“I know how difficult it is to raise that kind of money in a single event,” he says. “If anybody can do it, she can do it.”