I have an announcement…
On Friday, November 1st, I started growing a mustache.
(I know, important right?)
While I might try to grow an awesome stache like the illustrious  FSU alum Burt Reynolds any other month, this November I will be growing it for the face of men’s health.

Just a few facts for you:
Men are 35% more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than women are to be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Testicular cancer is the most common cancer for men between the ages of 15 and 35.
Over 6 million men are diagnosed with depression each year.

The purpose of Movember is two fold: to raise awareness for these preventable diseases and to raise money to research them. It is more than growing an awesome mustache.

Today, I am asking for your help. I am currently putting together a team of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas (yes, this is an all-inclusive fundraising campaign) to help raise awareness and to raise funds. If you would like to join my team, go to movember.com and search for the team “Mustaches Are Cool.” Another way you can help is by donating to Movember. You can donate with a card by clicking here or you can bring cash to my office and I will make sure it goes straight to Movember. Your donation will benefit the Movember Foundation and Livestrong in their research. (If you want to learn more about how your donation will be used, click here.)

If you are interested in joining my team (it’s not too late!),  or just have some friends who have an affinity for growing facial hair, let me know. Although Movember officially started on Friday, it actually ends the first week of December. So far, I have already raised $83! Holla! Plenty of time to raise some cash while growing a stache.

I know a lot of posts like these have a personal tie in, why the cause is important to the writer. Well, I have been fortunate even not to have a personal tie in to this cause. The MacDonald and Knote men lived long, healthy lives. I guess you could say that my tie in is that I want to keep it that way. I want to help raise money to keep the research going so we all don’t have to go through the stress and heartache of having a loved one sick. I think the other reason is that when I decided to get healthy by losing weight, I looked at the process on a complete health spectrum. I even started to using moisturize on my face, something that sounded so weird and dainty to me. I guess what I’m trying to say is this is important to me because we need to have these conversations about men’s health. It should anti-mochismo to take of your body. Movember is trying to change the culture of men’s health, one stache at a time.

Let the mo grow commence.