The SFU “Mo-tivators” and SFU’s chapter of sorority Alpha Pi Phi, in collaboration with the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS), hosted the Movember Madness Kickoff last week on November 5 with a pie-a-thon and a hot shave to raise money and awareness for the Movember Canada Foundation.
The Movember movement challenges men to grow their moustache out for the month of November to raise money for men’s health issues like prostate and testicular cancer, mental health, and physical inactivity.
SFU students lined up in Convo Mall and donated money to throw pies at members of the SFU community. Both the Mo-tivators and Alpha Pi Phi brought in volunteers from the SFSS, Finance Club, Enactus, and many others to step up and take a pie to the face.
The Mo-tivators mobilized a group who donated money for a hot shave. Participants also had their photos taken in a Movember moustache photo contest.
This was the first event of its kind at SFU. Approximately 125 students attended and raised $850 for the Movember Canada Foundation, not quite reaching the event’s goal of $1,000. The funds will be used to build awareness, mobilize support, as well as invest in medical research.
This was the first event on campus of its kind put on by Alpha Pi Phi and the first as an organization for the Mo-tivators. Fundraising is the best way to “create the community that SFU desperately needs,” said Alpha Pi Phi President Panteya Niazi.
Movember fundraising is “something the entire campus could get involved in,” according to Morgan Reimer, Alpha Pi’s external programming officer. She encouraged all SFU students to get involved with Movember movements because “men’s issues don’t get enough attention.” The Alpha Pi Phis and the Mo-tivators plan to make Movember events an annual tradition at SFU.
The SFU Mo-tivators club was founded this year by a team of five business students. Founding member Jeevan Takhar said it is best if people learn “early on” about the real threat of testicular cancer, which is the most common form of cancer for men between 15 and 34.
Takhar urges other students to take the initiative and get involved, suggesting that SFU students should “make their own Mo-space.” Donated funds will count toward SFU’s fundraising for the Big Mo on Campus contest between Canadian educational institutions.
Next year, the Alpha Pi Phis’ and the Mo-tivators’ Movember campaign will be “even bigger, with even more groups involved,” promises Niazi. Both the Alpha Pi Phis and the Mo-tivators expressed a wish to work with the SFSS, as well as other SFU student groups, for future events.
