movember

During the last of couple years a strange phenomenon has occurred. Moustaches mysteriously sprouted on thousands of men’s faces during the month of November, in the US and around the world. It's not evolution or hibernation, folks...it's Movember.

Men start Movember 1st clean shaven, and then for the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, effectively become walking, talking billboards for the often ignored issue of men’s health. Movember raises awareness and funds for causes that support prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men. The funds raised are directed to programs run directly by Movember and their men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG, the Lance Armstrong Foundation. 

This month, the hubs is getting on the philanthropy bandwagon and literally putting his money where his mouth is (well, just above) and growing his own Movember 'stache (Matt Hooban if you're searching the site). He's gotten quite a lot of looks and started quite a lot of conversations, I must say. And that is the whole idea: getting men involved in their own health and changing attitudes and habits relating to men’s health. Via the moustache, Movember aims to fulfill its vision of having an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health by continuing to spark conversation and spread awareness of men’s health issues each year.

And that's working, too. Last year, Movember raised over $80 million by over 400,000 participants around the globe. 83% of raised funds go toward programs supporting prostate cancer and other cancers effecting men. It's fairly certain that if you ask around, you will find someone who is participating in Movember, and you can support them by making a donation. If you don't know anyone, might I suggest you donate to a certain husband of mine? I also know a couple more awesome moustached gents who could use some donations, too. Or, you can just make a general donation.

Here's are what I think are the most important takeaways from this campaign: 1. Men are awesome givers, too. And not just of their money, but of their time and even their faces. 2. Most cancers are highly curable if caught in the early stages - including prostate and testicular cancer. Early detection, diagnosis, and effective treatment are vitally important and will ultimately reduce the number of deaths from cancer.

And for those of you just catching the tail end of Movember and sad that you missed out on all the fun - there's still one more day left in Movember, so here ya go...