Movember is back for year number 17! 1 year away from voting, enlisting in the military, or being able to gamble in a Native American casino. Last year we raised $31,878 for our team as we ranked 18th in the entire country for fundraising.
Individually this was the best year we have had yet raising $26,281 That is 9K more than the previous year and puts me in the top 10 of all fundraisers in the US.
Total lifetime donations to Movember are $145,072!
150K is a lot of money and I understand that I am the one with the mustache, but all of you are an important part of this campaign and I am grateful for your support.
This year’s Stache will be referred to as the “The Chin Strap” The goal this year is $25,000. Your contribution will help someone fight their battle, raise awareness, and provide support systems to men with mental illness. Your contribution makes a difference.
A new aspect for this year is that I would like to get as many people as possible to grow a stache. Grow one for a day, a week, or even the whole month. The goal is any participation as I would like to get 50 people to join us. Growing a stache in addition to making a donation helps spread the word about supporting the men in your life physically and mentally. Will you look ridiculous…. Possibly. The up side is that people will ask you why you are growing the stache and you can tell them this.
1. I am growing to encourage my friends to get a coloscopy at 45 to help with early detection of cancer and to follow up with regular checkups and consultations with their doctors.
2. I am growing to encourage my friends who may be struggling with depression or other mental illness to get professional help. The fact is that everyone has issues and we all can use extra support to help navigate our lives.
3. I am growing because mustaches are fucking cool and having the hair on my face for any period of time has the potential to change someone’s life for the better.
Pick out whatever style you want and let it rip!
If you are in for growing a stache for any length of time this month, send me an email/text to let me know so I can keep count and recognize you for stepping up to the plate and being an honorary MO Bro. If you would like to join the team click on the link below and get on board.

https://us.movember.com/login/join-team/id/2459487?mc=9

I am growing the Stache in honor of Eli, Marcie, Dad, Jeff, Chad, Papa Jerry, Harold, Bryan, J, Uncle Sam, Brian N, Loren, Brandon, Randy, and everyone else who has been affected by cancer.

Another aspect of the campaign is to raise awareness for Men's mental health issues including depression, anxiety, and suicide prevention. Men need to know that it is ok to ask for help and the money you donate will support organizations so men can get the help they need to be healthy physically and mentally.

I am going to continue a fundraising tactic I started by accepting physical challenges for donations. Appropriate examples would be push-ups, jumping jacks, making free throws, bur-pees, etc. The deal is that if I choose to take on your "reasonable" physical challenge, you must "double” your original donation if I am able to complete it. If I am unable to complete the challenge, I will pay to double your original donation. For example, if you donate $100 (Thank You) and you want to see if I can do 100 jumping jacks shirtless then the challenge is on! If I am able to do the 100 jumping jacks you would make an additional $100 donation to Movember. If I am unable to finish the challenge, I will make a $100 donation in your honor. There is no limit on the challenges I will accept and I look forward to seeing some more creativity this year. I will be providing pictures/video evidence of the challenges on the Movember website and social media.

I am proud to grow the Stache every year to support curing cancer, being proactive about catching cancer early, and giving men different resources to turn to for mental health issues.

Thanks again for the support and let's get ahead of cancer before cancer gets ahead of us.

Aaron