As we grow, we need to fiercely protect our community spirit

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Fraser Coast Mates Golf Day at the Hervey Bay Golf course.

In my line of work and business interests, we are always attending something, sponsoring something or lending our marketing and editorial skills to a worthy local project.

That is what the community spirit is like in Hervey Bay.

This was the seventh Fraser Coast Mates Golf Day and we had the absolute pleasure to be the major sponsor with our business, Prime Agents.

More than 200 golfers turned out for a hit and over 100 ladies enjoyed the day inside the Flourish tent.

Fraser Coast Mates is a local organisation that aims to spread awareness of mental wellness with the goal of preventing suicide in both men and women across the Fraser Coast community.

They are also passionate about building a community of mates that look out for each other and know that we all need a helping hand from time to time.

More than $30,000 was raised on the day from almost $10,000 in donated prizes.

I chose to talk about the importance of community, when I had the opportunity to address the large audience gathered there.

Prior to moving to Hervey Bay in 2009, I had lived the previous fifteen years in Ipswich, during a period where that city underwent enormous growth and change.

A similar thing is happening right here in Hervey Bay now, as we become a migration attraction city, that sits in the top five nationally.

There are so many incredible hyper-local projects in our city like Fraser Coast Mates, Dunga Derby, Red Bike, The Hervey Bay Neighbourhood Centre, the list is a long one.

As we all benefit from the growth that Hervey Bay brings, we must ensure that we maintain our sense of community, our connection to the grass roots events and initiatives that rely on our support to provide the valuable work they do.

Every great city maintains the diligence to continue to think small, when that matters the most.

We have an envious community spirit in Hervey Bay. Long may we protect that.