Men’s health worldwide is in jeopardy. Across the world, men die 6 years younger than women on average. One man dies by suicide every minute, or 510,000 a year. By 2030, over 1.7 million men will have contracted prostate or testicular cancer, but will only survive it if detected early and treated. And more than a third of all men in the U.S.—over 56 million—will die early from heart disease, diabetes, and respiratory illnesses due to unhealthy lifestyles this year alone.
The good/tragic news is that most of this is preventable. Your local Movember team, The Admirals Club, needs your help to stop men from dying too young.
Taking our cue from successful efforts by Komen and other women’s health groups each November we seek to raise money for Movember. The Movember Foundation funds research programs to improve testicular and prostate treatment outcomes and develop cures. It donates to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LiveStrong to fund their research, treatment and detection access, and quality of life programs for diagnosed men and their families. It funds grassroots mental health and suicide prevention programs reaching men who would otherwise never seek treatment. It runs wellness and fitness campaigns getting men outside and active, helping them to eat better and avoid smoking.
The best part is that nobody has to wear pink. (Not that there’s anything wrong with pink. But, by the end of October, everyone’s a little pinked out.)
No, instead of wearing a color, The Admirals Club and other Movember fundraisers grow moustaches.
Why a moustache?
Moustaches are fun and all too rare. Most of the smartest and best men in the world (Ghandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Albert Einstein) had one. And without the moustache, Movember would just be November—a cold, snowless month barely salvaged with a turkey dinner.
Growing a moustache is also a little bit of sacrifice. While everyone likes the idea of a moustache, they take a long time to grow out of the awkward middle school phase. Most Admirals Club members shave off perfectly fashionable beards to start the month clean-shaven in solidarity with men who lost their own scruff to cancer treatments. And not all of our wives or girlfriends are completely onboard with a moustache.
Why do it at all?
Because as soon as you start growing a moustache—and only a moustache—people, especially men, notice. They’ll ask, “What’s with the moustache?” If they’re not so nice, they’ll ask, “Why do you look so … seedy lately?” Either way, that’s an opening to discuss moustaches, Movember, why men’s health is in trouble, family medical history and, “How are you feeling lately?”
In the past six years, I can attest that every conversation I’ve had about my Movember moustache has led to at least one story about cancer in someone’s family, some recent medical test or recent efforts to eat better or exercise more. The moustache is the second greatest conversation-starter about physical and mental health for men. (Sports is still a runaway first.)
How do moustaches and conversation raise funds for cancer research, mental health treatment and global wellness initiatives?
Each member of The Admirals Club maintains an online Movember page, where we provide updates on our moustache’s development, our latest adventures, people we’ve met and our daily exercise throughout the month. While tracking our progress, visitors can donate money—sort of like adopting a whale. Or a walrus.
We also host events every weekend in November. Except Thanksgiving weekend, of course—that’s for guilt-tripping our families. These are opportunities for friends to see our moustaches in the wild, be social and, in some cases, get a little exercise. (For a full listing of events, please see our Movember page listed below.)
The Admirals Club is composed entirely of volunteers. We pass all funds directly to the Movember Foundation. Over the past three years, we’ve raised $3,000, contributing to the over $20.2 million dollars raised in the U.S. in 2014 alone. Of that, Movember donated 80 percent—$16.2 million—to health programs designed to help change men’s languishing life expectancy rates. In total worldwide, Movember has raised $710 million over the past 11 years from small donors like you.
As your local Movember representatives/weirdos, The Admirals Club needs your support. Please visit our Movember page today to join the fun, and please come to an event. Fair warning, though: it doesn’t take long for a moustache to grow on you. (About 30 days, actually.)
Web site: http://moteam.co/the-admirals-club
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MovemberAdmiralsClub
