By Holly McGuinness
International Friendship day is Saturday July, 30 and two Sunshine locals with a friendship worth celebrating are Leanne McKenner and Marita Taylor, destined to be best friends since before they were born.
“We always joke there’s multiple ways that we were going to be friends regardless,” said Leanne
The pair’s friendship blossomed through their connection of sport, first meeting back when they were in nappies, starting callisthenics in Sunshine around the same time.
They then went on to play Softball in Moore Park on rival teams, netball together at the old roller skating rink in Sunshine and baseball as well.
It’s not just through sport they have connected but they spent most of their time together including attending Kilkenny nightclub before it burnt down “we were there every weekend” said Marita and she still remembers calling Leanne devastated as the venue burnt down
The pair also previously worked together and volunteered with ‘Refugee Dads and Kids’ through Catholic Care which arranges weekends away for refugee fathers to strengthen their bond with their children.
An organisation close to their hearts as both Leanne and Marita had sadly lost their fathers years ago and when asked about a time that they’ve been a support for each other, Leanne said, “It was definitely our dads, my Dad was quite sick as he was diabetic, Marita lived close by and she would go and see him, Dad would say “oh my other daughter came to see me today” so that was huge for both of us.”
Both Leanne and Marita are like adopted families to each other and there’s an abundance of memories still left to be made between the two of them.
