Concordia ‘Staches’ Cash

Psychology Students In High-Stakes Movember Race

NewsEmily Campbell — Published November 24, 2011

Over $7500 have been raised by a Concordia Movember team in the fight against prostate cancer—and the campaign isn’t over yet.

The team consists of 34 co-ed members from Concordia’s Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, including grad students, administrative staff and faculty.

“We at the CSBN understand the importance of research funding better than anyone else, we depend on it,” said Yannick Breton, member of team CSBN. “Every penny counts.”

Waqqas Shams is passionate about raising awareness and money for Movember because his grandfather passed away from prostate cancer, and he has more family members fighting the disease. He hopes they will benefit from the ongoing research.

“Initially we wanted to raise $5000, but we were half way through and had already raised six grand,” he says.

Now the team has a new goal to raise $10,000 before the end of the Movember and the race for sponsorship has a motivating twist. Dr. Shimon Amir, Director of the CSBN, has pledged to shave off his santa-like beard completely if the team reaches their $10,000 goal.

“He hasn’t had his beard off in 39 years,” says Barry Robinson, Lab Manager for the CSBN. “His grown kids haven’t seen his chin.”

Though the campaign is proving popular for raising funds, the mustaches themselves are not so much.

“I know in science, correlation is not causation but I haven’t been on a date since I grew this thing,” says Dan Madularu. “I used to be beautiful, now I look like a minotaur.”

Their fundraising success is being mirrored across a moustache crazed Canada. We are world leaders for donations. Canada has raised over 22 million dollars this year for the cause. Runners up in the United Kingdom are trailing us by nearly nine million dollars.

“It’s successful because it’s something fun to do, it’s a community thing,” says Dean Graham, CSBN team captain. “I see Mo Bros on the bus, I see it when I go grocery shopping. There’s an unspoken code. I wish there was some kind of secret handshake because I am usually guessing ‘are you a hipster or are you doing Movember?’ So I give them a wink and if they’re hipsters they look at me weird probably thinking ‘why is that creepy moustache-guy winking at me?’ It’s funny.”

Donations for team CSBN are being accepted online at ca.movember.com The team has until Nov. 30, 2011 to raise the $10,000 necessary to put Dr. Amir into the barber’s chair to expose his fabled chin.