BY BRUCE CHESSELL
November is a month that has become commonly associated with men growing facial hair to support and bring awareness to men’s health, specifically prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health. But there is more to Movember than just growing some patchy hair and flaunting your 1980’s era porn-stash.
Movember was started in Melbourne, Australia in 2003 when two friends, Travis Garone and Luke Slatery, were having a conversation about where the “Mo” had gone in current fashion trends. They both then talked more of their friends into growing a “Mo” for the month of November and renamed the month Movember.
Soon after, in 2004, the group of now 30 men decided that they would grow their moustaches for a cause and made a company and registered a website. The decision to focus on men’s health was made soon after and in 2004 450 people raised $54,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
In 2007 Movember made its way over to Canada and has since become an annual event that many Canadians celebrate by growing their moustaches and beards as well as donating to a number of charities. Last year more than $146 million was raised and over one million people got involved.
Mo Bro, a term used for a man who decides to grow a hairy upper lip, is also the term used by the official Movember organization to describe a man who is participating in the festivities. This doesn’t just apply to men exclusively though, Mo Sistas are, according to the Movember website, women who support the power of the Mo, essentially doing everything a Mo Bro does, except without the Mo.
Conestoga got involved this year with Movember when a group of five second-year events marketing students set up their own Mo Bro’s event at the school in The Sanctuary on Nov. 8. The Conestoga Mo Bro’s event featured some games including “Pin the Mo on the Bro” that had a picture of Heisenberg from the TV show Breaking Bad with his moustache missing.
Jessica McKay, one of the members of the team, was the only girl or Mo Sista on the team. “I’m with four other guys and they can all grow some pretty decent facial hair,” McKay said, and then went on to explain why they chose Movember to showcase their event. “I knew that Movember was huge with people our age and that it would attract people our age so that’s why we chose Movember.” The other members of the group were Mitch Joiner, Landon Jones, Stephen Filipovic and Jonathan Mansilla.
To support Movember you can try and grow your facial hair, or visit ca.movember.com to find out more about the month as well as where and how to donate. Donations can be made to a specific team such as The Conestoga Mo Bro’s or to the Movember organization directly.
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