JMOSB Kicks Off Movember Fundraisers With Yoga Class

The JMSB Movember Group Hopes to Raise Awareness and Destigmatize Men’s Health

NewsOlivia Piché — Published November 13, 2019

JMOSB is a Commerce and Administration Student’s Association Cares and John Molson School of Business organization focusing on changing the face of men’s health.

The yoga event called Mo Stretching, Less Stressing, was their first official fundraiser of the month. The event took place in a classroom on the ninth floor of the MB building. The event was fitting to this time of year, with final exams on the way.

“Mental health is super important and being there for your friends is super important,” said Evan Baird, a fifth year human resource management student at Concordia.

“A lot of times when you’re not feeling well, you really need someone else to talk to, and when you have a whole month with people behind this mission of creating awareness around checking in on your friends and making sure everyone is okay, I find it’s really empowering,” he continued.

With a team made up of 13 volunteers, JMOSB is dedicated to promoting mental health, suicide awareness, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.

The funds raised at the yoga class will be donated to the Movember Foundation of Canada. Their goal is to raise $15,000 by the end of the month.

The yoga class raised funds from the $5 admission fee, as well as any extra donations from the students that attended.

Baird said being a part of JMOSB is almost his civic duty, especially living within a culture where he finds it’s not considered manly to check in on friends or to be vulnerable. In addition to the funds raised, Baird said events like this one are also a great way for students to get to know each other.

Afra Tucker, founder of the Concordia Yoga Club, was the certified yoga instructor who led the class. Since the yoga club formed this past summer, collaborating with JMOSB was the first time the club got to work with another Concordia association.

“These kinds of collaborations are really cool because we can each offer something different to the event,” said Tucker, a behavioral neuroscience student on the Loyola campus. She said it’s great to be collaborating with students she wouldn’t usually work with because of the distance between campuses.

Tucker led an hour long class, permitting stressed students to take a moment to breathe and let go of unneeded negative energy.

Amid the students who took part in the yoga class was marketing student Fiona Flores-Lyons. Although the main reason she attended was to support JMOSB and their cause, she said that the event was additionally important as a way to help students destress.

“Students get very stressed, so I think doing something like this is really important,” said Flores-Lyons. The events put on by JMOSB are a good way for students to put themselves out there, she added.

In addition to this event, JMOSB is putting on events such as social parties, a shave down event and bake sales to raise awareness on men’s health, bring students together and raise funds in hopes to reach their goal.