Diversions November 11, 2010

Are You Celebrating Movember?

If you are a man with a moustache, November is your time to shine.  
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Movember aims to raise awareness and money for men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer.

It started in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, when a couple of friends decided to grow moustaches – partly as a joke and partly to raise awareness around men’s health.  They didn’t try to raise money in 2003, but they realized that the moustache (“mo” for short) is a sure-fire conversation starter.  The following year, the “Mo Bros” decided to take their idea to the next level and with the help of 432 participants, the group raised $55,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia – representing the single largest donation they had ever received.

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Unlike comparable races and walks for charity, Movember requires very little effort (in fact, it saves you the effort of shaving).  Beginning on November 1st, men begin the month with a clean-shaven face and grow a moustache for the entire month.  They ask friends and family to donate to the cause and use the moustache as a conversation-starter to raise awareness.   

In 2009, global participation of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas climbed to 255,755, with more than one million donors raising $42 million U.S. equivalent dollars for Movember’s global beneficiary partners.  The funds raised through Movember’s U.S. campaign benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) and LIVESTRONG, the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

According to Movember’s Web site: “The PCF uses the money raised by Movember to fund research that is accelerating the discovery of better treatments and ultimately finding a cure for prostate cancer.  One such program is the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center’s research, which has recently made a significant breakthrough.  They identified 24 different kinds of prostate cancer and how aggressive each is.  This should enable scientists to soon be able to answer the agonizing question facing men with prostate cancer: does their cancer need immediate treatment, and if so what is the best treatment, or can it be left alone?”

Learn more at http://us.movember.com/?home 

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