Giving as good as you get is the recipe for a successful regional move, according to Todd Parrish, who moved from Brisbane to Goondiwindi with his family to take up a job promotion.
“The community has really embraced us and welcomed us,” Todd says, and the Parrishes have returned the favour.
“Our oldest daughter suffered from separation anxiety and every day was a struggle to get her to school – until we moved to Gundi. On her very first day at St Mary’s a little girl with a friend asked her to play with them and ever since, we haven’t had any struggles at all.
“At any one time we could have up to eight kids over at our house or they are all out riding their bikes in the street.”
Or they could be playing basketball in a programme created by Todd and his wife Austin – self-confessed basketball tragics.
Just one month after arriving in town, the couple arranged to host a seven-week basketball clinic with the Police Citizens Youth Club to gauge interest in the sport.
More than forty kids signed up. A second clinic followed and “before we knew it, there was a buzz around town about basketball!” Todd says.
Todd and Austin now run a local basketball competition for one hundred and twenty kids, with uniforms and equipment donated by the Parrish’s contacts in Brisbane basketball clubs.
They balance that with their day jobs – Todd as Associate Partner with financial advisory and accounting firm Findex, and Austin as a teacher’s aide at a local state school.
Todd says the community spirit in Goondiwindi has made the family’s relocation from city to country, “a fantastic move for our family.”
