EDMONTON – Hundreds of men’s faces were likely feeling a little bit naked Sunday, after shaving off the moustaches they’ve dedicated a month to perfecting.
“I didn’t even feel it this year. It was a part of me,” Reid Schmidt said of his ‘Mo.’ “It would wake me up in the middle of the night and just hum me back to sleep. It was great.”
Movember – an initiative dedicated to changing the face of men’s health – has come to an end for another year. It started in Melbourne, Australia in 2003 and has since grown into a global movement practiced in 21 countries, including Canada.
“I always love to see how much it’s grown; physically on people’s faces and then within the community,” said Jonny Sullivan, Co-Chair of Movember Edmonton. “Movember is all about people taking care of their neighbours and people taking care of themselves. Especially men.”
Movember supports men’s health programs that are dedicated to awareness and education surrounding prostate and testicular cancer, and mental health challenges.
Beyond that, Sullivan says growing a ‘Mo’ helps break down walls and encourages men to open up about their health.
“We know that men don’t like to talk about their health. They don’t like to go to the doctor. They feel isolated. And that’s something that everybody that’s going through a disease feels, so we’re here to show support for them,” he explained.
- ‘Shock and disbelief’ after Manitoba school trustee’s Indigenous comments
- Canadian man dies during Texas Ironman event. His widow wants answers as to why
- Several baby products have been recalled by Health Canada. Here’s the list
- ‘Sciatica was gone’: hospital performs robot-assisted spinal surgery in Canadian first
“It makes them talk about it more. It’s more open. You talk about your ‘staches and you’re more open minded to get checked every once in a while,” Schmidt added.
Schmidt and a few of his friends marked the end of Movember Sunday with a photo shoot at Shadow Box Studios, a creative photography studio in east Edmonton.
“It’s just a lot of fun to get together and have tons of laughs,” Schmidt said. “It immortalizes it forever.”
“We do it at the end of the month when the moustaches are in full bloom,” said Scott Bruke, the owner of the creative photography studio. “We have a variety of props for people to come and take hilarious photos for a good cause.”
And while it was all fun and games at the studio Sunday, these men understand the serious subject behind Movember and say they’ll keep growing Mos for as long as they have to.
“Raising money and having a lot of moustaches out there is great. But we don’t want to be known as the charity that raised a lot of money for cancer. We want to be known as the organization that changed men’s health,” Sullivan said. “I plan on doing Movember until I am in the ground.”
“I’ll do it until my lip falls off,” Schmidt added.
This year, Movember raised nearly $29 million in Canada alone, which is the largest per capita amount raised during a Movember to date. Sullivan says exact fundraising amounts for Alberta will be released on Monday.
With files from Shannon Greer, Global News.
Comments