PORT ADELAIDE supporters are known for being loyal and loud, and one True Believer is hoping to do both on Friday as part of Loud Shirt Day.

Loud Shirt Day is an annual event put on to help show support for and raise money for children with hearing loss.

One person taking part this week is Heidi Limareff who is both the Group Chief Executive at Can:Do Group and a passionate Port Adelaide supporter.

Heidi has signed up to get LOUD in aid of Can:Do 4Kids, which provides support and services to children, young people and their families, who are blind, Deaf, have low vision, are hard of hearing or have sensory needs.

She has pledged to raise at least $1000 by Thursday at 7pm and the Executive Team at Can:Do 4Kids has decided that if she fails, she will have to wear Adelaide Crows colours all day on Friday.

“We’re trying to get the word out about helping deaf kids who choose to have an aural pathway to speak and participate in English as their first language, to ensure that the money is there to support the programs that help with their speech and their language,” she explained.

“Everyone at work knows about my love of Port Adelaide, every game day I wear my scarf to work and jokingly at job interviews I ask people who they support in the AFL and make sure they all know I’m a mad Port supporter.

“The one thing they thought they could do (if I didn’t reach my fundraising goal) was to put me in a Crows outfit, especially knowing we should have been in a Grand Final this weekend.

“If I come first in the fundraising, I can choose what I wear and I’m going to go with the Port Adelaide flamingo shirt that’s been on sale in the Port Store.

“But if I lose, I have to wear Crows colours. Don’t make me have to wear the colours of the wooden spoon team!”

An American by birth, Heidi came to fall in love with Port Adelaide by chance, having bumped into some players in the early 2000s while jogging around Alberton.

“Despite being an immigrant to Australia, I ended up living around Alberton… and watching AFL, which I admit took me a while to understand.

“The athleticism and everything about the AFL is phenomenal to me. I’ve also got a fair few American Port Adelaide fans on board including my dad.

“He’s a 74-year-old with a thick New York accent who sends me an update in an email each week about each game and he’s a mad Charlie Dixon fan.”

You can do your bit to help kids who are deaf or hard of hearing, and keep Heidi in the right colours, by donating here.