Amy Parmenter has showed her GIANT heart to her newest teammates in the Origin Australian Diamonds squad.
For those that know Parmenter well enough would know that 1. She’s usually running late or has lost her car keys and 2. She’s one of the most kind, caring and passionate people going around.
Parmenter’s motto in life is to ‘look for a rainbow in every day.’
These are the words that our fun-loving wing defence carries wherever she goes.
They also built the foundation for her charity project, the Tie Dye Project, which aids cancer research funding.
Parmenter founded the Tie Dye Project in 2017 alongside her sister Daisy.
Tie Dying was an activity they had done with their mother, who sadly passed away rare form of Mesothelioma cancer in 2013.
In the first couple of years, Parmenter and her sister started small and raised $5,000 by dyeing t-shirts and a mixture of accessories like tote bags and scrunchies.
At the end of 2018 Parmenter met 12-year-old cancer patient Molly Croft through a player appearance at the Sydney Children’s Hospital radiothon. It was this introduction to the teen cancer fighter that Parmenter says gave the project an additional voice for change.
“She was the toughest kid with the biggest smile on her face, and not to mention she was a huge netty head,” Parmenter said.
“She wanted to get involved with our project, so we made about 1000 t-shirts that year and sold them all with profits going to the Oncology Ward at the Sydney Children's Hospital.”
Nowadays, the production of tie dye products for the project has more elbow grease behind it.
With the community behind the project expanding each year, an annual get-together sees 50-60 people across tie dye stations working towards the worthwhile cause.
“You could say it turns into a bit of a production line,” Parmenter said.
“Everyone has their role, like my dad who cooks up the BBQ, and my grandma who comes to peel stickers and put them on the brown packaging bags, like a pro of course.”
During the Origin Australian Diamonds recent training camp in Queensland, Parmenter’s new Diamonds teammates gave Parmenter’s grandma a run for her money, jumping on the tie dye train to bond as a team while supporting the fundraising initiative.
“I was telling the girls about The Tie Dye Project, and someone posed the idea of doing it together in Queensland and it just sort of happened,” she said.
“A lot of the girls had their Australian tees that are cotton, so we tie dyed those green and gold and got them fully signed by the squad.
“Everyone also individually tie-dyed their own plain white tees to take home after camp and keep the tie dye positive vibes.”
A limited number of the yellow and green Australian Diamond signed tie dye tees were made available for sale on Sunday afternoon and sold in under five minutes.
The tees were $100 each and all the proceeds are going to the Sydney Children’s Hospital
Whilst they were all sold out in a matter of minutes Parmenter said fans who wished to support The Tie Dye Project will be able to do so in the coming months.
“I am thinking of doing netball bibs for teams to train with, so hoping these will be available late November to early December.”
For more on the Tie Dye Project or to make a donation CLICK HERE.
