Hear and Say is gearing up for the 14th annual Loud Shirt Day fundraiser, encouraging the community to 'Get Loud' this Friday in support of deaf children across Queensland.
With 2020 causing unprecedented hardship for the not for-profit, Hear and Say is urging the community to wear their brightest and wackiest shirts on the day, to raise vital funds and awareness for children with hearing loss.
Hear and Say CEO Chris McCarthy said this year's Loud Shirt Day was a wonderful way to unite the community with a fun and colourful activity.
"With this year bringing great challenges and hardship across our communities, the joy of Loud Shirt Day feels more pertinent than ever," Mr McCarthy said.
"It's an easy way to inject a dose of happiness into your outfit or workplace, and support families who are doing it tough.
"As a not-for-profit, the impact of COVID-19 has been felt across our organisation, and we are urging the community to band together and donate what they can, so Hear and Say can continue to provide our world-leading programs for Queenslanders with hearing loss long-term."
Mettle managing director Marc Kenney said his company is creating a colourful spectacle in Brisbane and will be hanging a handmade 4.7-metre high by 5-metre wide shirt in King George Square in support of Loud Shirt Day.
"Mettle will be hanging what we believe to be the World's Biggest Loud Shirt in King George Square on a 60kg coat hanger," Mr Kenney said.
"We will also be sending a Little Loud Shirt on a tour of regional Sunshine State towns - in a bid to dial up the loud and raise awareness and funds for those living with hearing loss.
"We hope our Big and Little Loud Shirts will bring a smile to people's faces all over Queensland and create conversations about the importance of hearing health."
- Queenslanders can support Loud Shirt Day by rocking their loudest attire in the workplace, school or community groups, and donating at www.hearandsay.com.au
Who will be Queensland's Loudest Small Town?
The communities of Wowan and Aramac are going head to head, to be crowned Queensland's Loudest Small Town, to raise vital funds and awareness for children with hearing loss.
Both towns are rallying the troupes to raise funds in support of Wowan two-year-old Arthur Olsson and Aramac seven-year-old Emily Geltch, both born with a hearing impairment.
Lysandra Olsson, Arthur's mother, said he was fitted with hearing aids at just five months of age.
"So basically he was born with a bilateral mild to moderate sensory neural hearing loss, that's what they call it and that was picked up at the birth screening," Mrs Olsson said.
"They either pass or they refer and he referred twice and once they do that they need to go be tested by an audiologist, and we did that when he was only a few weeks old and it came back as to that diagnosis.
"He does fortnightly tele-practice lessons, so an hour every fortnight we do a session with his therapist, and they just set all different goals for him and his speech is coming along brilliantly."
The Olsson family has received overwhelming support from their local community of Wowan.
"I didn't think that we would raise anywhere near as much as we have, but the community has been behind this 100 per cent," Mrs Olsson said.
"I'm hopeful we'll get around the $15,000 mark, a lot more than last year."