Some of you may know that I did something this November that I have not (intentionally) done ever before. I decided to grow a moustache for Movember. Along with some like-minded co-workers, we spent a month grooming our facial hair with the intention of raising funds for Prostate Cancer Canada.
When I started the effort, I thought we would raise perhaps $100 a person if we were lucky. We started off with a team of 9 people I think and $900 seemed like a seriously lofty goal. Who in their right mind would donate money for my scraggly facial hair after all?
This was my first time taking part in an event like this. I am not averse to taking up charitable causes, but it usually involves donating some money and getting on with life. Not so with this exercise. I had a team and team mates to cheer on. I had to grow hair for a month to show for it. I mean, it wasn't that hard (apart from remembering to not shave initially), but it still took some getting used to.
We went through a process of transformation over time. Some of us are blessed with hair growing genes. Others, not so much. Some of us gave into peer pressure and gave up (on account of the wives not approving apparently). Some of us had skin issues. Some of us grew hair in patches.
Donations were slow to come by. I dislike hassling people to donate. I firmly believe charity comes from the heart. You cannot force someone to donate. I dislike those random phone calls you get asking you to donate to a charity with some heartfelt story about some tragedy. I also dislike chain mails for the same reason: whether it is the one about how AOL and Bill Gates are tracking your emails and for each forward you'll get a gold bar or if it is some bunk about a poor child somewhere who needs some magical remedy to cure an alleged hole in her heart... I don't like the aspect of using guilt and greed to get anywhere. Thankfully, things like facebook exist, so in a sense, you can virtually hassle people in a creative manner without feeling terrible.
One benefit of having something physical to show for your efforts is that it becomes a conversation piece. People naturally ask you about your moustache and why you're growing it. In this part of the world, the moustaches sprout up like weeds in a garden during November. I feel bad for the year-round moustachioed men, they must feel a bit bothered by all the attention moustaches get this time of year. Or perhaps they welcome it. Who knows.
Donations started to trickle in. I got $20 from an anonymous admirer (I'd like to think anyway). The team started to get the odd donation. I was optimistic I would reach our goal of $1000. A week into it, someone at work donated a good chunk of change. Apparently, this person donates annually to a charity and decided Prostate Cancer Canada was the recipient this year. After that, donations started to come in. Daily we would get something. Sometimes, it was a buck each. Sometimes, it was 50s.
As the month went on and we took pictures to mark the event, more people became involved. My boss donated money. Others in the company donated money. Friends donated. Friends joined in the cause. Friends who live in far flung places donated money. We finished the month far ahead of what I thought we could raise. The team raised a total of $2,576. Not bad for a team of 20 (we grew to 20) men sporting facial hair.
Perhaps the best story of the lot was about the Norwegian fellow I work with. He joined in on the first day. He grew hair for a whole month. And no one really saw any hair. He grows incredibly fair and fine hair on his face it seems. So, on the last day, he applied some of his wife's mascara and came to work. He had a moustache after all! Norwegians are cool by the way. For a country so tiny, they have enormous influence in the world.
Anyway, I wanted to write to thank all the donors, participants, by-standers, patient partners and well wishers. I have not been affected by prostate cancer. But I am sure there are plenty of people out there who have been. So do us all a favour and get yourself checked out. And your friends. And your parents and children and partners. And thanks for putting up with us and our hair.
When I started this endeavour, I didn't expect many people to participate or for people to donate. I finish with a renewed sense of awe of human kind and the power of a (hairy) statement. The 854,000 or so registered participants raised an incredible $112 million over the course of the month. Us Canadians raised about $40 million of that. I am very proud of the fact that the world as a whole raised so much to fund research into prostate cancer. I'd also like to point out that Canadians participated in large numbers... and beat every other country out there. Be proud MoBros and MoSisters.
Movember. Now closed. But we'll be back next year. Stay tuned. I'm keeping my moustache for now :).
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