Tag: movember

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Community Student Life

Movember 2022 with JMo’SB

Graphic by Carleen Loney

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.”

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News

Concordians share their experience of participating in the JMoSB fundraiser

JMoSB comes to an end with over $28,000 raised

For JMoSB’s Movember fundraiser, all its members chose their own way to raise money and spread awareness for men’s health, particularly mental health.

Some members of the John Molson School of Business Movember team, a subsidiary of CASA Cares, sold pins, some found sponsors and prizes for raffles and competitions, and others did push-ups. But they all had the same goal: raising funds for the John Molson School of Business Movember fundraiser.

Sally Vu, the co-director of external relations for JMoSB, is majoring in Human Resource Management. Her mental health awareness project consisted of sharing video journals of 22 different men, each talking about their experience with and opinion on men’s mental health.

Jason Lobasso, a third-year finance student at JMSB, contributed to Vu’s video journals. He said that men’s mental health should be a subject that’s more talked about.

“I think it’s great that we, as a society, are collectively engaging in conversation about it more and more as time passes,” he said. “No one should ever be ashamed to open up and speak up on what’s on their minds. We should be prioritizing dialogue as much as we can.”

Vu received many donations with the help of her campaign, but since she wanted to do more, she decided to collaborate with Mary Colombo, the owner of a small Montreal-based online business, @artxfeels. Colombo sells customized accessories through her Instagram account. She graduated from Concordia in 2018 and has previously participated in another fundraising initiative.

“A couple months ago, I decided I wanted to raise money for the MUHC [McGill University Health Centre] foundation,” Colombo said. “So, I designed Ça va bien aller pins, and 100 per cent of the profits went to the foundation.”

Colombo said that when Vu asked her to collaborate, she was more than happy. She made mustache pins and sold each pin for $5, with all profits going to the fundraiser.

Karim Hatem, co-director of external relations, is in charge of media presence, as well as finding sponsors to provide prizes related to mental health care or self-care in general, including spa packages from Bota Bota. Hatem is in his second year at JMSB, doing a double major in Marketing and Human Resource Management. He will be posting a video of him doing push-ups, depending on how much money he raises.

“If I raise $100, then I’ll do 100 push-ups,” he said.

Neil Kafidi, vice president (VP) of external for JMoSB, is majoring in International Business with a minor in Finance. His role also consists of finding sponsors and prizes for different competitions and raffles, similar to Hatem’s role. To do that, Kafidi gets in touch with companies and asks them for monetary or material donations, which would be used for the raffles.

He received a $1,000 donation from Imperial Tobacco, and many products from Pharmaprix, including a laptop, a tablet, and a camera.

Most members joined the Movember team because they wanted to help raise awareness and funds for an important cause, but they also have more personal reasons for why they decided to apply.

“It’s a bit more personal for me,” Hatem said. “A friend of mine has mental health issues, so I wanted to help raise awareness, and that’s why I joined and decided to focus more on the mental health aspect of Movember,” he added, referring to the self-care prizes he acquired for the competitions.

For Kafidi, joining JMoSB was just about giving back.

“I feel like when you’re lucky enough to be in a good situation and when you can help, it’s always important to help because not everyone has the same luck,” he said. “And I believe in good karma too. If you do something good, then something good is always going to come back to you.”

He also explained that he initially applied for the VP internal position, which consists of communicating with the team and organizing their meetings. However, he was offered the VP external position, which allowed him to talk to more people, including possible sponsors. He said he was happy to take on a more challenging position.

“I got to discover a new way to get out of my comfort zone,” Kafidi concluded.

“For me, the most important part is mental health,” Vu said. “The more I reached out to people during the pandemic, the more I realized we’re going through a lot, everyone individually. That’s why I wanted to do this campaign, to share everyone’s stories.”

Colombo loved Vu’s idea of sharing testimonies of men.

“I feel like I’ve never seen that being done,” she said. “And I think that in regards to men’s health, it’s something that’s often overlooked, and because of that, I feel like they were extremely strong for talking about it on social media.”

All the members learned something different from their experience fundraising for men’s mental health.

“I learned a lot about myself, about the cause and about how people really feel,” Vu concluded. “It’s a great initiative and I plan on reapplying next year.”

“I think I’d like to participate next year too, but maybe have another position, to see things from a different angle and learn new things,” Hatem concluded.

 

Logo courtesy of John Molson School of Business Movember team

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News

Putting Mo back in JMoSB: Taking a quick look at JMoSB’s 2020 Movember campaign

Through the hard work and dedication of the JMoSB team, this year’s Movember campaign is set to be the most successful in recent memory.

The JMoSB team, a subsidiary branch of Casa Cares, kicked off the 2020 Movember campaign on Nov. 1. The Movember campaign is the annual initiative to help raise funds and spread awareness for issues related to men’s prostate cancer and mental health.

While the Movember campaign is just one of the many student-led initiatives that Casa Cares runs throughout the year, the JMoSB team solely operates during the month of November to oversee the Movember campaign.

This year’s initiative comprises both an extensive social media campaign as well as numerous independently-led projects by the individual members of the JMoSB team.

So far, this year’s campaign has helped to raise over $18,717 already surpassing the initial fundraising goal set for the entire month. It’s an impressive accomplishment considering the economic downturn due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re doing really good so far,” said Jessica Doyle, executive vice president of the JMoSB team, when asked about the accomplishments of her team this year. “We’re hoping to pass what [the previous JMoSB team] were able to raise last year and honestly, I think we are on the right track for that.”

All the money raised during the campaign is donated to the Canadian division of the Movember organization. From there, the funds are distributed amongst 1,250 different men’s health associations and scientific studies. A comprehensive list of the projects that the Movember organization funds can be found on the Movember organization’s website.

If the JMoSB team is able to keep fundraising at this current pace, then not only will this year’s campaign achieve its objective of raising more funds than last year, it will become the most successful campaign run in recent memory.

While fundraising still remains one of its core values, The JMoSB team has recently shifted its focus away from raising funds, and towards raising awareness. This year’s campaign has had the unprecedented challenge of conducting the campaign entirely online, as red zone restrictions in Montreal have prevented their traditional fundraising events from taking place.

In light of these circumstances, the JMoSB team has gone with the Movember Mo’ Match-up Cup initiative to spearhead this year’s campaign in place of bake sales in years past. The initiative is styled as a knockout competition, the competitors being the many different student-run associations within JMSB.

Based on a similar structure to the Stanley Cup playoffs, each week teams face off against one another to get the most points with the winning team advancing to the next bracket.

Every week, points are awarded to the remaining teams based on total shares and money each team is able to raise. The teams with the least amount of points at the end of each round are eliminated. The team who makes it to the end of the month is crowned the winner.

The Movember Gala, the main event traditionally held at the end of November, will be replaced this year by a remotely administered Mo’talking panel. The panel will feature mental health experts who will discuss a variety of topics associated with mental health, as well as answer participants’ questions on the matter. The event is open to the general public and will take place on Nov. 24 at 7 p.m. EST over Zoom.

In association with its official campaign, many members of the JMoSB team have begun their own personal initiatives to help raise funds and awareness for Movember.

Third-year marketing student and JMoSB team member Angélique Dinh-Vu uses her Instagram account to sell second-hand and donated clothing with the profits going to the Movember campaign.

So far, she has helped raise over $400 in the span of 10 days for the Movember organization and hopes to raise $200 more before the end of the month. She also helps to educate the public on mental health issues by integrating important facts about mental health into her promotional videos and posts.

Students interested in getting involved with the Movember innovative can register for the Mo’talking panel here, or can donate to the Casa Cares Movember campaign on the Movember organization’s official website.

 

Logo courtesy of Casa Cares JMoSB team

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Sports

Stingers grow a mo for a bro

Concordia hockey players talk about the moustaches they grew this month for Movember

Every November, men around the world grow moustaches to raise awareness for men’s health. Last year, over 300,000 people worldwide raised $80 million—including $15.5 million in Canada—for men’s health programs ranging from suicide prevention to early detection of prostate and testicular cancer, according to the Movember Foundation.
This year, a few players on the Concordia Stingers men’s hockey team grew moustaches in support of the cause, commonly referred to as Movember. The Concordian spoke with forwards Raphaël Lafontaine and Dominic Beauchemin, defencemen Carl Neill and Alexandre Gosselin, and assistant coach Jim Corsi about their moustaches.

Stingers defenceman Carl Neill. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Carl Neill

Neill is a rookie with the team this season. He said even though the team didn’t raise any money for Movember this year, he still grew his moustache to support the cause.

“Usually, in the past, my teams raised money with a thing called MoBro [a part of the Movember Foundation],” Neill said. “It’s fun to contribute any way you can. It’s not the same platform as famous celebrities, but if you could do it locally and people catch on, then it might spread awareness.”

Neill has the second-most points on the team this season, with four goals and 12 assists in 14 games. Both he and his defence partner, Gosselin, grew moustaches, making them look like a 70s police duo when they patrol the blue line. However, Neill said his ‘stache doesn’t compare to Gosselin’s. “I’ve had mine for a month, so I think he wins in that department,” Neill said.

All-time favourite moustache: Former Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward Lanny McDonald or Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell in Anchorman.

Stingers defenceman Alexandre Gosselin. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Alexandre Gosselin

Gosselin also grew a partial goatee under his chin, so his moustache doesn’t stand out the way Neill’s does. However, when asked about a moustache-growing competition with his defence partner, Gosselin did not hold back.

“I’m sure I’m winning on that part. He’s a good hockey player, but I have a better moustache,” he said.

Like his other teammates, Gosselin said he was not raising money on his own time, but rather “doing it for the fun.”

All-time favourite moustache: Gosselin said he doesn’t know who his favourite all-time moustache is, but added that Raphaël Lafontaine has the best one on the team.

Stingers forward Dominic Beauchemin. Photo by Kirubel Mehari.

Dominic Beauchemin

Standing at six-foot-two and weighing 215 pounds, Beauchemin is an intimidating forward who has been growing a beard since training camp in August. He shaved the beard and kept the moustache for Movember, starting off the month with a handlebar moustache. However, he later traded that in for a standard ‘stache.

“I just got tired of [the handlebars], so I shaved it,” Beauchemin said, adding that it made him look like an ex-convict.

Beauchemin said it would be a great idea for the men’s hockey team to collectively raise money next November. Like Gosselin, he was honest in his assessment of who has the best moustache on the team.

“I would say, after me, I don’t know, Lafontaine has a good one too if he shaved [the rest of his beard],” Beauchemin said.

All-time favourite moustache: Concordia Stingers assistant coach Jim Corsi.

Stingers forward Raphaël Lafontaine. Photo by Brianna Thicke.

Raphaël Lafontaine

Lafontaine normally has a full beard, which suits his playing style. He plays a rugged, blue-collar game by constantly winning key face-offs, blocking shots and working hard in the defensive zone. He shaved his beard for Movember, but by the end of the month, the rest of his facial hair caught up to his moustache, so it doesn’t stand out as much as those of his teammates.

In an interview with CJLO Sports on Nov. 20, Lafontaine was humbled when the host told him that both Beauchemin and Gosselin said he had the best moustache on the team.

“Mine is not that bad,” Lafontaine said, adding that his pick on the team would be Beauchemin’s. Lafontaine said that, while he didn’t have time to raise money this year, he would like to do so next year.

All-time favourite moustache: One of the referees during the Stingers’ game against Laurentian University on Nov. 11. “I don’t know who he is, but his [moustache] was so special,” Lafontaine said. “It had a twist in it. It was very nice.”

Men’s hockey assistant coach Jim Corsi. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Jim Corsi

The assistant coach didn’t grow his moustache just for Movember—he has it all the time. Corsi even has a moustache in his professional hockey pictures from the 80s.

Corsi was the goalie coach of the Buffalo Sabres in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1999 to 2014. During that time, he invented a statistic to measure how many shots are directed at the goalie during a game. In an interview with The Concordian on Nov. 16, Corsi said his moustache helped name the modern Corsi statistic, which measures how many shots a player takes.

When former Sabres general manager Darcy Regier started talking about Corsi’s statistic on the radio, “some guy in Edmonton, [Vic Ferrari], heard about it and said, ‘Wow that’s phenomenal. I wonder if I could apply it to players,’” Corsi explained. “The Corsi number that has gone out there as a stat is an evolution of what my numbers were.”

According to Corsi, when it came time to name the stat, Ferrari, who devised the modern Corsi number, “flipped through the Buffalo Sabres media guide, saw my picture and said, ‘I love that moustache. Corsi stat—it has a great ring.’”

Main photo by Alex Hutchins.

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Student Life

Walking the runway for men’s health

Les Cours Mont-Royal will be hosting a fashion show for the Movember Foundation on Nov. 16. Photo by Jennifer Li.

Local boutiques to host Les Cours Mont-Royal’s first all-male fashion show

Boutiques from the downtown shopping mall Les Cours Mont-Royal are putting a fashion spin on the typical Movember awareness campaign. On Nov. 16, IIIMnkys, Matinique and Maison 1455 are teaming up to host a menswear fashion show in support of the Canadian Movember Foundation.

According to Alexandre Dufresne, the event’s organizer and manager of IIIMnkys, “we want to associate menswear [with Movember], not just the moustache.” Although the shopping mall hosts a mixed-gender fashion show every second Friday, this Movember event will be the first all-male fashion show at Les Cours Mont-Royal dedicated to men’s health, Dufresne said.

The Movember Foundation prides itself on “tackling men’s health on a global scale, year round,” according to their website. The charity aims to raise awareness about testicular cancer—the most common cancer found in young Canadian men—and prostate cancer by encouraging yearly medical screenings. The Movember Foundation also works to shed light on mental health issues experienced by men and advocate for suicide prevention. According to the foundation’s website, three out of four people who commit suicide in Canada are men, and one in 10 Canadian men will experience severe depression.

Among the brands sponsoring the event are Kuwalla, “one of our big local brands who, every year, give one per cent of their profits on T-shirts to a charity of their choice,” said Dufresne. MOJO Products and other local brands sold at IIIMnkys are also among the event’s sponsors.

In addition to the fashion show, surprise gifts will be handed out to attendees on the third floor of the mall throughout the day, Dufresne said. “A barber is donating his time to advise men on grooming practices, and there’s so much more,” he added. “It’s an event that we’ve been working on for months. I hope people show up for the cause.”

Les Cours Mont-Royal’s Movember fashion show starts at 7 p.m. on Nov. 16. Admission is free, although donations are appreciated and will go to the Movember Foundation. For more information or to volunteer at the event, send an email to alex@soltron.ca or call 514-284-1333.

Photo by Jennifer Li

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News

JMoSB breaks fundraising records with 2016 Movember campaign

Photo courtesy of Mikael Clement. Mikael Clement pictured in the middle at the back, and Catherine Doyle on the far right.

The organization contributed the majority of Concordia’s fundraising total

The JMSB philanthropy organization CASA Cares and their subsidiary JMoSB announced that their annual Movember campaign broke their previous fundraising records by raising $13,930 during their 2016 campaign.

Led by co-captains Catherine Doyle and Mikael Clement, JMoSB was one of four teams participating in Concordia’s Movember campaign. JMoSB contributed the majority of Concordia’s overall fundraising, with a total of $17,717- with six JMoSB students raising over $1,000 each.

Clement and Doyle, along with 10 JMoSB members and 33 volunteer fundraisers, raised money by collecting pledges from students who grew facial hair for the month of November. They also threw a public “Stache Bash” fundraising party which raised close to $2,000.

According to Clement, the 2016 fundraising total was more than twice as much as JMoSB’s last fundraising record. All proceeds will go to the Movember Foundation, a charity focused on men’s health issues, including testicular and prostate cancer, suicide prevention and destigmatizing the conversation surrounding men’s mental health.

“While the Movember cause is deadly serious, a lot of fundraisers have fun with Movember because it deals with growing facial hair,” Clement said, adding that the fun nature of the campaign contributed to its success. “We had one of our fundraisers raise hundreds of dollars from a donor who wanted the opportunity to choose his facial hair style. Everyone has their own fundraising methods and tricks so that people can have fun while making a difference.”

Clement added that, while facial hair is traditionally a major aspect of Movember fundraising, many donors and volunteers chose to spread awareness and raise money without it, and over half of 2016’s fundraisers were female.

In 2017, JMoSB is aiming to break its 2016’s record and continue increasing awareness about men’s health issues on campus.

Although the campaign is designed to be fun for participants, Clement said it’s important to remember the cause behind the campaign.

“If the fundraising by Movember can continue at this pace, by 2030 the number of men dying prematurely will diminish by 25 per cent,” said Clement. “[The Movember Foundation does] extensive research to find innovative health solutions to solve these long-standing problems… They have already had a significant impact on the crisis worldwide.”

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Student Life

Must not shave: A movember story

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan

My role models are Ron Burgundy and Ron Swanson, so when Movember rolled around this year, I decided to commit to the cause. I tried growing out a ‘stache last November, but four days in, I caved and shaved it. Not this year! It has been more than a week and I’m sporting the bare minimum of what could be considered a moustache. The thought of shaving it off does cross my mind after every glance in the mirror. I had never grown one out fully but surely it would be epic, wouldn’t it?

I had no idea how tedious, annoying and painful shaving everyday would be. My face feels as though it was brushed with sandpaper and it is taking my entire being to not “accidentally” shave it off. Shaving on a daily basis requires an earlier-than-usual wake-up call and a ton of aftershave, but the end result is the manliest of bonding experiences. When I bump into a fellow Movemberer, a “nice ‘stache” is all that needs to be said.

I made peace with the fact that I would encounter many disgusted looks from the ladies this month, but women have been insanely supportive of Movember. It may not be the most attractive and acceptable look year round, but most women are on board with upper lip facial hair for a month.

Movember is also kind of a manliness competition. One of my friends had a full moustache after a week — I was nowhere close to that. Does that make me insecure about my manhood? Damn sure it does. Do I feel like Tom Selleck when I see a guy with less facial hair than me? Absolutely.

According to the Movember website, this year’s movement has generated more than $32 million in donations, with Canada leading the pack with $11.3 million. The fact that I haven’t raised any funds for the work I’ve put in so far doesn’t bother me. When the vast majority of my guy friends are growing out their moustaches, funding each other would mean financial bankruptcy. So I’m counting on a few generous donations from my family.

While raising awareness and money for prostate cancer is the whole point of Movember, it has become more than just that. The best part of Movember is the overwhelming support that we give one another through a simple moustache. So, men, do the manly thing and grow a moustache for cancer. See you out there moustache brothers!

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Student Life

Embracing the manly whiskers

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan

Graphic by Jennifer Kwan

Movember is upon us, and men all over the country are concentrated on growing out their whiskers. Tiny handlebar moustaches adorn mugs, pens, and a whole slew of paraphernalia. It’s cool, it’s hip, and it’s meant to draw attention to men’s testicular and prostate health. According to Canadian Cancer Society, there were approximately 26,500 cases of prostate cancer in 2012 and 4,000 deaths caused by it.

While the women help raise funds and awareness, men are sponsored to grow out their ‘staches. Last year, “Mo Bros” and “Mo Sistas” raised $125.7 million dollars Canada-wide. Although creating and maintaining their upper lip art can be time consuming and inconvenient, there are also many of benefits that come from their labours.

Studies have shown that moustaches actually provide protection against the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Researchers in Australia used dosimetry, a measurement and calculation of how much radiation tissue can absorb, to see if facial hair provided any protection against the sun’s rays. Researcher Alfio Parisi and his fellow scientists came to the conclusion that facial hair diminished the skin’s exposure to ultraviolet rays by about one third. There were some variables, such as the angle of the sun, and the length of the ‘stache and beard. While this may seem like great news for you moustached men, Parisi did mention that this is a very small amount of protection, so don’t chuck out your sunscreen just yet.

In addition to some minor health benefits, moustaches actually bring about many social benefits as well. I suppose we can call it the Tom Selleck affect. A study held by the American Mustache Institute showed that men with mos make more money than clean-shaven fellows. According to the study, they make 8.2 per cent more than men who just have beards, and 4.3 per cent more than baby-faced blokes. The study also states that men sporting upper-lip flavour-savers are more likely to be hired at job interviews.

“When I am clean shaven, I feel exposed to the elements of the world,” said Aaron Cohenca, a Dawson College student who is part of a team raising funds for Movember. He said he believes the growth of a ‘stache is a respectable process.

If you’re not quite yet convinced to join in the Movember festivities, a study by the Journal of Marketing Communications states that moustached men are also seen as more trustworthy. Men sporting facial hair in commercials brought out more trust in the consumer. It must be noted that when we are talking about facial hair and moustaches, we are speaking about well-groomed, short to medium length beards. Nothing that looks like a bird could raise a family in.

“A moustache is a responsibility. It is almost like a baby and needs to be cared for daily,” said Cohenca. “People recognize this subconsciously and will thus automatically respect and admire men who have the courage and willpower to wear their ‘staches with pride.”

On the other hand, some people like McGill University student Chris Martin disagree. He said he feels “dirty” with facial hair, and that the image of a moustache is old-fashioned. “It makes me think of undeserved dominance and inequality,” he said.

Concordia student Maxie Kalinowicz, one of Cohenca’s team members, began growing out his facial hair in August. “It definitely makes me feel a lot older. And I have noticed that strangers seem to treat me as such,” said Kalinowicz. However, he added that he sometimes feels unkempt, and that facial hair can “be a two-way street.”

To introduce a female perspective, Concordia student Krystina Scenna willingly expressed her dislike with the idea of moustaches for that very reason. “They’re terrifying!” she said. “It looks like a dead rodent on your upper lip.”

If we’ve convinced you of the benefits of growing a moustache, consider doing it for a good cause and participate. If not, feel free to make fun of your friends all the more.

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