Small town with a big heart
The outback town of Aramac, home to just nearly 300 people, has seen a bright history of loud shirts and jumping on board for what’s called the ‘Loudest Town’ competition.
Introduced by Hear and Say as part of their Loud Shirt Day celebrations in 2019, the competition challenges small Queensland towns to don their wackiest shirt and raise the most money. The prize is a framed ‘loud’ shirt signed by Hear and Say Vice Patron and NRL legend, Wally Lewis.
Not just a fundraising initiative, the Loudest Town competition is also an opportunity to bring communities together behind a common cause and to celebrate young people with hearing loss and their achievements.
A cause close to their hearts
Led by locals Kerryn and Sam Geltch, Aramac have banded together and taken part in the Loudest Town competition for several years, taking home the coveted title in 2022 after raising an impressive $29,147 (they’ve now raised a total of $70,000 so far for Loud Shirt Day).
Kerryn and Sam’s daughter, ten-year-old Emily, was diagnosed with profound hearing loss in her left ear and moderate-to-severe hearing loss in her right ear at birth. Given there was no family history of hearing loss, the diagnosis was a surprise for Emily’s parents.
“For two new parents from the bush to travel 1,200km away from our home and family to seek answers was very daunting,” said Kerryn.
“I can still remember those first couple of months so clearly – it was a whirlwind of appointments with many different specialists and so much information to absorb.”
After being fitted with hearing aids, Emily underwent her first cochlear implant surgery when she was one year old. When her hearing aid in her right ear was no longer enough, she received her second cochlear implant in 2021.
