Archive

Orangeville firefighters growing out their best ‘stache for Movember

November 15, 2019   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

A group of Orangeville firefighters are looking a little fuzzy these days as they participate in Movember – a month-long initiative to bring awareness to men’s health.

Movember supports awareness and provides services to men with a focus on men’s health including prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention.

As a sign they are participating, men grow moustaches for the month of November. Some moustaches are bushy, some are thin, some are a little droopy, but they are all a sign they are participating in the initiative.

The Orangeville Fire Service has created their own group to take part in Movember and raise funds for the cause.

Orangeville firefighters Tyler Sloan and Shawn Burns are spearheading the initiative at the Orangeville fire hall. They along with 12 other firefighters are growing moustaches to show their support of the cause.

“Movember was started over ten years ago,” Shawn said. “We grow facial hair and collect donations from family and friends and that goes toward funding and research. Over the years its become more of a men’s health initiative  –  really any men’s health concerns. Men generally don’t really seek medical attention when we should. It brings more attention to that.”

Movember is an international initiative with many groups and sports clubs now taking part and challenging other groups to see who can raise the most money.

“We have 14 of us that are doing it,” Tyler said. “We’re growing our mustaches, which is symbolic to the organization. Guys grow all sorts of different ones – people get a little creative with it and do different things with whatever facial hair you can grow. We’ve got one guy who is doing a Mohawk because he said he can’t grow a moustache. We set things up as a team so that we have a group that are doing it and we’ve been having some fun with it. Most of us will put it out to social media and let their friends know that we have a team here at Orangeville Fire. That’s how most of the donations come. We don’t actually see any of the money. When people log into the website the money goes directly to the Movember organization and all their initiatives. They have progressed the program from dealing strictly with prostate cancer awareness to other men’s health issues.”

The moustaches started to grow on the first of November. For someone who already has a mustache, shaving it off to get a clean start with the rest of the crew is usually the deal. Bragging rights usually go to the guy with the biggest or longest moustache at the end of the month.

Individual members try to set a personal goal of what they think they may be able to raise for the cause.

You can find out more about Movember by checking out the website at www.movember.com

Readers Comments (0)