I see that CurlTV News Anchor Kris Laudien covered Movember in his November 1 broadcast. http://www.curltv.com/news/curltv/index.php?id=618&mm=11&yy=2007
It seems Balance Plus is on board in a big way supporting this initiative, and has created special Blue brooms to support it. Very cool - nice one Scott!
Also, teams such as Mike Harris are supporting and goin' the Mo!
Well... I'm signed up too and am involved in the Microsoft Australia Movember team. Here is a clean shaven picture of me from November 1st... and I'll update on a weekly basis of the Mo while I'm at the Pacific Championships in Beijing.
So what is this all about?
Movember, the month formally known as November, is a charity event held during November each year.
At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants known as Mo Bros then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache and along the way raise as much money and awareness about male health issues as possible.
Movember culminates at the end of the month at the Gala Partés. These glamorous and groomed events will see Borat, Tom Selleck and David Boon look-a-likes battle it out on the catwalk for their chance to take home the prestigious Man of Movember title.
While growing a Mo is left to the guys, Mo Sistas (ladies that support their guys or just love Mo's!) form an important part of Movember with their powerful feminine touch, by recruiting Mo Bros, helping to raise funds and attending the highly anticipated Gala Partés.
But it's not all fun and games, so why the extreme behaviour?
Whichever way we look at it, men are far less healthy than women. The average life expectancy for men is five years less than for women.
The obvious question is why?
The answer is because men lack awareness about the very real health issues they face, have a "she'll be right" attitude and are reluctant to see a doctor about an illness or to go for regular medical checks.
The aim of Movember is to change these attitudes, make male health fun by putting the Mo back on the face of fashion and in the process raise some serious funds for key male health issues, including:
Prostate Cancer: because every year in Australia 2,900 men die of prostate cancer - equivalent to the number of women who die from breast cancer annually. [ Find out more ].
Male Depression: because one in six men experience depression at any given time but most don't seek help. [ Find out more ].
The money raised by Movember is donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue - the national depression initiative, which will use the funds to create awareness, fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and male depression.
For those that have supported Movember in previous years you can be very proud of the impact it has had and can check out the detail at: Fundraising Outcomes.
So, if you think this is a worthwhile cause, and would like to sponsor my Mo please go to http://www.movember.com/au/donate, enter my registration number which is 132607 and your credit card details.
Happy grooming,
<Ian Palangio>