Tie Dye Project: How Maverick Amy Parmenter turned craft passion into a million dollar charity

She’s the Mavericks’ fearless leader but off the court Amy Parmenter’s impact spreads far and wide. Here’s how she turned a passion project into a million dollars for cancer research.

A craft project that netballer Amy Parmenter started on her dad’s back deck in memory of her mum has blossomed into a million-dollar charity for cancer research.

The fearless Melbourne Mavericks captain on the court and a fundraising superstar off it, the 27-year-old has now been officially recognised for her work with the Tie Dye Project.

What started as a small operation with her sisters to honour their late mum, Gilly, who they lost to cancer when Parmenter was 15, has now raised more than $1 million for sarcoma cancer research.

So far 17,000 items of colourful clothing have been created as part of the project.

Parmenter’s work was recently recognised with a nomination for the 2025 New South Wales Young Australian of the Year alongside her co-founder, Molly Croft.

The pair finished fourth runner-up in the NSW awards, but were honoured to be named among the finalists.

Amy Parmenter received the ANPA Heart of the Game award. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images for Netball Australia

Parmenter’s netball peers also acknowledged her charity work when she won the inaugural Australian Netball Players’ Association heart of the game honour at the Australian netball awards late last month.

“It just became much, much bigger than I ever anticipated when we were doing it on my dad’s deck,” Parmenter said of the project.

“We have got such an amazing community that helps us every year.

“We’ve been able to support eight sarcoma-specific research projects, support fellowships, we have done clinical trials and raised over $1 million now, which is amazing.

“If you had asked me back then if we could have ever raised that much money I probably wouldn’t have believed you. It has been really, really special.”

Tie-dyeing was a pastime the tenacious wing defence and her sisters had always enjoyed sharing with their “arty and crafty” mum, who would set up tie-dye stalls at the school fete.

So, one summer, several years later, when Parmenter and her younger sisters were looking for something to do, they decided to dust off the tie-dye kits again in her memory.

A summer hobby quickly caught the eyes of family and friends, who started asking if they could buy the tie-dyed clothes and, before they knew it, the Parmenter sisters were out stockpiling all the white T-shirts in Sydney.

“We hadn’t done it for many years and we were like ‘Let’s just do a bit of tie-dying, it will be something to do over summer’,” Parmenter said of the project which started in 2017.

“We made them and people were like ‘Can I buy one?’. So all our friends and family started getting around it so we were going off to Kmart and Big W and buying every single white T-shirt in the whole of Sydney.

“Then we sold them and raised a few thousand dollars for cancer research. We had always had a passion for fundraising, me and my sisters cut our ponytails off a couple of times and our schools had gotten around that.

“It’s obviously a way of feeling like you can make a little difference when you’re going through tough times and it feels a little hopeless.”

The small operation Parmenter and her sisters – still heavily involved in the project – created took flight after she met a 12-year-old cancer patient, Molly Croft, during a hospital visit in 2019 in her first season with the Giants.

It was a meeting which Parmenter said gave her even more perspective and purpose.

“I had just got my first contract with the Giants and one of my first appearances I went out to Westmead Children’s Hospital with a few of the other netballers and we met this girl called Molly and her family. Molly was only 12 and she was going through osteosarcoma treatment,” Parmenter recalled.

Meeting 12-year-old Molly Croft changed Parmenter’s perspective. Picture: Supplied

“She had a tumour in her leg removed and the bone from just above her ankle to just below her hip and she was going through this chemo that’s worse than … it’s basically as bad as it gets and she just had the biggest grin on her face. She was so excited to meet us.

“It came at a time when I was just about to start my elite career and it showed me from the very first moment it was bigger than just throwing a ball around.

“It was really about being a good role model and making a difference to kids and girls and the next generation coming through. So that defined my whole purpose as a netballer.

“So, Molly jumped on board (the project) in 2019 and the whole of Dubbo, where Moll is from, jumped on board and it just became much, much bigger than I ever expected.

“I found out so much about sarcoma and I know what my mum went through and to see that sarcoma disproportionately effects young people, and to think that young people are going through what my mum had to go through, it was enough for me to be like ‘That should not happen to any young person, they have got a whole life ahead of them, it is just not fair’”.

Parmenter’s mum waged an eight-year battle against a rare form of cancer, mesothelioma.

The eldest of four children – she has two sisters Lara and Daisy and a brother Harvey – Parmenter said netball had helped her get through the family’s loss.

“It was really tough. I am the oldest, so my siblings were even younger,” Parmenter said.

“At the time my mum was quite sick I found my love for netball and I think the netball community really wrapped their arms around me.

“It became my happy place and where I wanted to be. I just think that is the power of netball to really look after their own and the girls coming through and it’s really special.”

The support from the netball community included a personal call from one of the biggest stars in the game, former Diamonds captain Laura Geitz, after Parmenter lost her mum.

Parmenter admits she can’t remember much of what was said during the phone call, but it was a gesture that she would never forget.

“I honestly couldn’t believe it. I was 15 and a big netball fan and to have the Australian Diamonds captain call me, it is little moments that stick with me forever,” Parmenter said.

“I was too starstruck to remember the exact words, but all I remember so clearly was that she understood and she was there for me and she had my back.

“I remember at that time I was trialling for my first state team and she was sending me good luck messages. It was pretty incredible.”

It was that kind of support that has made Parmenter determined to pay it forward herself to the next generation of young girls and netballers now that she’s one of Super Netball’s stars.

“When I hear about girls that are doing it a little bit tough – that age group in particular is probably a soft spot for me, like 14, 15, 16 – it is tough for any kids” she said.

“To have someone in your corner that has been through something similar and gets that life is hard at that age, I will always make sure I make an extra effort for those girls and keep an eye on them because I was definitely that kid and Laura did that for me.”

The support she has received from the netball community made her all the more grateful to be recognised by her peers at the recent Netball Australia awards for her charity work.

Parmenter recently hosted the project’s annual tie dye festival – where thousands of products are dyed to sell in the lead-up to Christmas – and she is never short of a few netballers to draft in for help.

“The last two years we have done it at Randwick netball courts, which is really nice because that’s where I grew up playing,” Parmenter said.

“This week I have been walking around the (Mavericks) club and all the girls have got our new merch on and quite a few of the girls flew in to Sydney (for the festival) as well.

“We had heaps of the Swifts girls get down there as well and the Giants and a couple of Vixens, so it was really nice to see.

“At the end of the day it is more than sport, it’s more than netball, it’s about coming together to make a positive impact.

“It is a really beautiful, colourful way to bring everyone together.”

Originally published as Tie Dye Project: How Maverick Amy Parmenter turned craft passion into a million dollar charity