Throughout the entire month of November, men across the U.S. and around the world have been growing mustaches to change the face of men's health.
The annual event, known as Movember, encourages the involvement of "Mo Bros" to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer and other male cancer charities.
At Ramapo, the Women's Center has developed their own version of Movember, where Ramapo Mo Bros compete to grow the best looking facial hair.
"We have about nine contestants, and they're posted outside the Women's Center on the board," Men's Outreach Coordinator Kevin Potter said. "Throughout the whole entire month, people would come to the Women's Center, give a dollar for a vote, the dollar is donated to the Movember campaign, and then they vote for who has the best facial hair."
The updates have been posted every single week to show who remains in the lead based on the amount of votes they've received.
"It's basically everything about Movember, except we've made it more for facial hair than mustaches," Potter said.
Movember should not be confused with No Shave November, which has become a popular event that many males participate in where they go the whole month without shaving, but isn't a registered charitable foundation. At Ramapo, the participating Mo Bros are encouraged to grow out all of their facial hair rather than just their mustaches.
"It's kind of like Movember and No Shave November combined," Potter said of the event.
According to the campaign's official website, the idea of Movember began in Melbourne, Australia in 2003 between two males who wanted to bring back the growth of mustaches. Only 30 people participated during the first month, but no funds were raised.
From then on, the charity event gained partners, began raising money for cancer foundations and acquired more participating countries including New Zealand, Canada, Spain, UK, the U.S. and more. In 2011, $126.3 million were raised that went to charities like the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the LIVESTRONG foundation.
Movember's biggest priority is raising awareness of prostate cancer. Diagnosis is one of the main focuses because there still isn't a test that detects which type of prostate cancer a man has, which results in inaccurate diagnoses and unnecessary treatment.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is also the second most common cause of death from cancer among white, African American, American Indian/Alaska Native and Hispanic men.
The goals of the campaign include funding survivorship initiatives to help and support men and their families affected by prostate and other male cancers. In addition, they aim to increase awareness and education of men's health issues and fund cancer research.
The Movember website already lists the amount of money raised by each participating country, with the overall total at around 87 million dollars and rising.
The Ramapo Mo Bros will continue to grow out their mustaches until the end of November.
"It's really just a fun way to get people involved in men's health issues and to get hopefully a nice donation to the Movember campaign," Potter said.
You can still donate by voting at the Women's Center or going to Movember's website. Even if you didn't participate in the mustache growing campaign this year, you can still join the fun and help out the cause next November.
kgarafan@ramapo.edu
