It may all seem like fun and games, but Dares4Syria is making a difference in thousands of lives caught in the Syrian civil war.
The grassroots initiative started in Saskatoon when a University of Saskatchewan doctor, Hassan Masri, put a twist on the traditional Movember challenge.
“I said to my friends on social media that I wouldn’t shave my obnoxious mustache until $2,000 was raised. I went to sleep that night and woke up in the morning,” the Dares4Syria founder explained to Global News.
“The response was overwhelming, we raised almost $4,000 overnight.”
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Masri, whose parents are Syrian, set out to expand the challenge online by involving his friends in Canada and the United States.
“We did that for three or four years and on average we would raise anywhere between $100,000 to $150,000 a year,” he said.
Instead of growing beards this year, participants complete in fun dares for donations.
“We’ve raised $75,000 this year. Our focus is on the money going to the education of the kids on the boarder,” Masri said.
“Our mission is that all of the money raised would pay families so that instead of sending the kids to work, they send them to school.”
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The dares, which are usually done in public, also help raise awareness for the conflict in Syria and show youth they can make a difference.
“A lot of us may not be well off to be able to contribute in a big fashion, but when we all work together it can make a huge difference,” Masri said.
Over the past five years, the charity has raised over a half-a-million dollars and shows no signs of slowing down.