October was breast cancer awareness month, as Web Watch noted by sharing National Feel Your Boobies Week and other sites with you.
Not to feel left out, November is dedicated to raising awareness of various men’s cancers, with programs encouraging men to get prostate exams or testicular cancer checks.
Which is why every November, men are encouraged to sign up at the official MOVEMBER website to help spread the word and raise money for various organizations.
Why “Movember”, you ask? It’s all about the “Mo”.The Mo is your mustache, and the concept for raising money is simple: start the month clean-shaven, and solicit pledges from friends, family, co-workers, and anyone else you can get to give you money – and all you have to do for the rest of the month is to grow that mustache proud…. even better if you take daily photos of your mo so you can show the 30-day progress (yes, there’s a Facebook app for that).
The organizers are pretty strict about what constitutes a mo. This charity event is for mustaches only, not goatees or beards.
- There is to be no joining of the Mo to side burns – That’s a beard.
- There is to be no joining of the handlebars – That’s a goatee.
- A small complimentary growth under the bottom lip is allowed (aka a tickler).
Is it worth it? Sure is – the Movember Foundation has raised over $47 million since it started in 2003, donating the money to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.
There are even prizes: the best participating mo in the world is even awarded the “International Man of Movember”, prize highly coveted by Movember participants. (Tom James was awarded the prize in 2008, beating out over 170,000 other mo’s – check his mo out.)