Leading men’s health charity, Movember is chasing down a huge goal for GivingTuesday. For the last 30 days the Movember community has grown moustaches, ran or walked 60 miles for the Move challenge in honor of the men we lose to suicide each hour, hosted virtual events and even taken on an epic Mo Your Own Way challenge, all to raise funds and awareness for men’s health. Movember is aiming to raise $1 million on December 1st. Every donation, no matter how big or small, will help save a man’s life. If everyone who read this donated the price of their morning cup of coffee, that $1 million goal could be made in a day and change millions of lives.
“This has been an incredibly tough year for all of us and we continue to be grateful and amazed by all of the efforts by our Movember community around the country. During a difficult year everyone pushed through and worked tirelessly to fundraise for us. We are truly humbled because without them we could not do the work we are doing to help change the face of men’s health,” said US Executive Director, Mark Hedstrom.
To date, through moustaches grown and conversations generated, Movember has proudly welcomed nearly six million supporters and helped fund over 1,250 innovative men’s health projects across twenty countries.
Brittany Veneris, Director of US Community Fundraising says, “We hope on this final push on GivingTuesday we can encourage everyone to remember how even the smallest donation goes a long way in saving a man’s life. While this past year has challenged us as a whole, we’re incredibly proud of all of the hard work our supporters and fundraisers have accomplished. This was no small feat for anyone during 2020. We just want to help people go the extra mile as we finish up another incredible campaign.”
Movember is also teaming up with some of their athlete ambassadors and hosting a two-day virtual panel addressing key men’s health issues on both November 30 and December 1st. Moderated by television host, Jason Zone Fisher, the panel will include a variety of athletes from different sports including, NBA Hall of Famer, Ralph Sampson, UFC Fighter, Stipe Miocic, PGA golfer, Andrew Dorn, former NFL player, Keith Mitchell, former MLB player, Christian Lopez, Major League Rugby player of the Seattle Seawolves, Brad Tucker, cyclist, Kevin Hubsmith and dancer Zachary Catazaro. The panel discussions will focus on physical and mental health, vulnerability and how being an athlete has shaped their lives.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Movember not only to help them make their goal for GivingTuesday, but to be able to have an authentic and honest conversation around men’s health with some amazing athletes. Many of them have lived through extraordinary experiences to get to where they are but it also required them to get very honest about their health and to be more open about these issues that affect so many men,” said Jason Zone Fisher.
“Men’s health is very important to me personally my father had prostate and lung cancer. As a family, we started to really look at what we were doing personally to take care of ourselves. I know many men struggle with opening up when it comes to issues around health, but we need to take action when it comes to this. Movember has found a way to help men start those conversations and I’m glad to come on board and support them,” said former NBA player Ralph Sampson.
While the month of Movember comes to a close, the work will continue throughout the year. In 2020, the charity released a number of tools designed to help people struggling during the pandemic. Movember Conversations was launched to help those struggling with mental health. The online tool offers people a simulated conversation to help someone navigating through a difficult situation which includes job loss or even depression. With an increase in mental health challenges, Movember wanted to help people across the globe. The fundraising efforts that take place this past month go to help fund important research, programs and tools to ultimately help men live happier, healthier and longer lives.
To help Movember reach their $1 million dollar GivingTuesday goal, some Movember ambassadors are donating a portion of their Cameo video fee back to Movember. Cameo is also giving 5% of their booking fee to Movember. The digital platform lets fans book a personalized video shout-out from their favorite talent. Their mission is to create the most personalized and authentic fan experiences in the world. The following talent participating and giving back to Movember are Olympic gold medalist swimmer, Nathan Adrian, former NFL player, Joseph Fauria, TV host, Jason Zone Fisher and former Bachelorette contestant, Eric Bigger.
To date, Movember has raised $994 million dollars globally and their goal is to reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25% and halving the number of deaths from prostate and testicular cancer by 2030.
Movember is committed to changing the face of men’s health and is active year-round promoting positive programs for men. The charity recognizes globally, men are dying six years earlier than women due to preventable or treatable health issues such as mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. Movember is committed to ensuring women and men worldwide can have as much time as possible with their fathers, partners, brothers, sons and friends.
