Been ‘staching away my Movember motivation
Now that we are in November, many may associate this month with the events linked to Movember.
In case you have been living under a rock, let me break down what Movember is exactly.
Movember is the mustache-growing charity event that occurs all throughout the course of November. The people who choose to participate in Movember donate to charities that support Men’s mental health initiatives. As well as bring awareness to men’s physical health issues like prostate cancer.
Now you might be asking yourself, Movember sounds great but how can I support these events as a student here at Concordia?
This is where the JMo’SB team at Concordia comes into play. In case you have never heard of JMo’SB, they are a non-profit sub-committee within the Commerce and Administration Student Association (CASA) cares. Their entire purpose is to raise money for men’s mental health initiatives throughout the month of November.
The team first started back in 2011 when a group of JMSB students came together to raise funds for Movember.
Fast-forward to last year, the JMo’SB team raised over $42,000 for men’s mental health initiatives. This year the team is aiming to raise over $50,000. If you would like to donate, please visit this page.
The president and co-president of JMo’SB, Liam Pinsonneault-Emond and Andrea Valcarcel gave The Concordian the inside scoop on what’s happening for Movember.
“We don’t actually have an event on November 19th for International Men’s Day but we have a lot of other events happening throughout the month,” Valcarcel said. “For example on November 18th we have a mental health day and it’s going to be at HIVE cafe, and it’s in collaboration with John Molson Women and Leadership. There’s going to be a lot of relaxing activities at that event, like decorating cookies, painting tote bags and there are also going to be panelists.”
The Nov. 18 event will be especially special because speakers from the Movember foundation itself will be among the panelists.
“We are also doing a comedy night which is going to be on November 20th at Montreal comedy club. We are actually in contact with the people from the comedy club and we asked them if the comedians could do a Movember theme. They said that they would try and find comedians that could do that,” Valcarcel explained.
Over the course of Nov. 7-11, the team also hosted two bake sales to further advance their fundraising efforts.
The month of November is an exciting time for the JMo’SB to further incite students at Concordia to participate in their events. Emond made a point to emphasize not to forget about one important thing during this month.
“For the people that this could sort of resonate with, if you have men in your life that are close to you, check in with them from time to time,” Emond explained. “Talk to them and make sure that they are okay, it doesn’t sound like much but just asking a guy how his day is going or how he’s doing, it would mean a lot to them.”
