Meet Kardinya’s Local Doers: Kendell Terrell and Dana Stead from Kardy Connect
We like to bang on about how great (or rather, OK!) Perth is – but our greatness doesn’t just happen out of nowhere!
With a mission to create thriving, connected and empowered communities, Town Team Movement is all about “doers”.
We’re partnering up with Town Team Movement so we can shine a light on some of the people who help make our communities so unique, and just a few of the excellent initiatives they’re working on.
This week, we’re featuring Kendell Terrell and Dana Stead, two of the brains behind Kardy Connect, one of Kardinya’s local Town Teams.
Can you introduce yourselves and your Town Team?
Dahna: Hi, I’m Dahna, and this is Kendell, and we’re the co-founders of Kardy Connect Town Team. We live really close to the primary school, so it’s a great opportunity for us to all walk or ride to school. We’re really encouraging as families to have walkable, liveable spaces around Kardinya because it’s a little bit of a disconnect at the moment.
It’s a great opportunity to be part of a Town Team and help make that change, and get all of our friends involved.
And how did Kardy Connect get started?
Kendell: We’ve been kind of reflecting on what our childhood was like, and the fact that we could walk to school. You could play spotlight at night time on the street or people were out on the street, hanging out and, you’d actually know all of your neighbours. And that was your entertainment!
Dahna: Yeah. So, in my really short two and a half years I’ve been working with Town Team Movement, and just seeing all this inspirational work happening in the communities. I felt really driven to do something in my own community – I was always talking to my husband about it.
He got really involved at the events: painting on the pavement, just seeing the excitement with these sorts of communities. So, when Kendell and I chatted about it, he was all in, which was really cool.
Kendell: There was lots of conversations with barbecues and stuff, around whether or not we’re going to start a Town Team. Then the boys really took it upon themselves to actually sign up, and they’re really excited by it.
And I think the opportunity to get other dads involved in this conversation is really cool – and realising that they can play a role as an active citizen. We don’t really realise that we can influence outcomes in our communities. And now that they know that they’re really excited and motivated by that.
Why do you think creating a Town Team was attractive to your families?
Dahna: When you become a parent, you kind of try to find your purpose as well. And sometimes if you don’t play sport, it’s about doing that kind of extra community work, which I think is really cool to see. I feel like this is a great test this year to see how we go with our first event.
I think naturally, in the field of work that we are both in, we can just go really big, and maybe have to reign it in a little bit to find our feet, sink into it. But I think so many opportunities.
What are some of the challenges you face in Kardinya?
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Kendell: So one of the main challenges we face is to get from one side of Kardinya to the other: for us, that’s going from this side over to the school, we have to cross six lanes of traffic.
On North Lake Road, the cars are going about 70km an hour, and for the first time this year, we didn’t have a traffic warden. We had the two kids on the bikes, me and the bike as well, just waiting for a break and making a bolt, and it’s so stressful and really dangerous.
Hopefully if we can shine a light on that and see some improvements – that’d be a great outcome.
Our goal is that you can stay, play and socialise in Kardinya. So if I guess in five years time, there’s a whole bunch of events and an improved network. And yeah, something about Kardinya that people can be proud of and connect with and feel a sense of belonging to, that would be pretty cool.
Want to get involved and become a doer in your own community? Head to the Town Team Movement website to learn more.