During the month of November, if anyone was to walk around Robert Morris University’s campus, they would see quite a few students growing mustaches. They are not trying to start a new trend; they are simply participating in a fundraiser for a cause they all support – Movember.
For these students, November becomes Movember, and they grow mustaches to raise awareness for prostate and testicular cancer research.
This year in conjunction with the RMU men’s lacrosse team, almost half of the RMU NCAA men’s hockey team is participating in raising money for this cause. The lacrosse team is making t-shirts that will be sold for $10 and the men’s hockey team is raising money on their “MoSpace” pages.
Each player got involved for different reasons, with some joining in for fun and some to help raise money for what they feel is a very important cause.
“I thought it was a hockey thing at first just all of the guys growing mustaches but it turns out it’s for a great cause,” explained Blandina. “It raises awareness for prostate cancer and testicular cancer and it’s just kind of a thing for guys. Women have all of October for breast cancer month, so guys can grow their mustaches out in November.”
“We went on the site and did a little bit of research and it’s for a great cause,” said Hervato. “It’s not just about growing a mustache to look cool, so we put a team together and we’re raising some money now on the Movember site and we feel like that’s something we can do while we’re at school.”
At first junior Andrew Blazek was on the fence about growing a mustache, but his teammates were able to change his mind. “It wasn’t really my choice but I kind of got peer pressured into it, but I’m glad I did, and it’s to creep people out for a good cause,” said Blazek.
While the guys note that they do look a bit ridiculous, they do not mind the look because it’s for a good cause.
“We have fun with it and we kind of get to make fun of each other for the way we look,” explained senior captain, Trevor Lewis. “It just kind of lightens the mood in the locker room and it’s something that we really enjoy doing.”
Blandina hopes that by raising money for the cause there will be more awareness for prostate and testicular cancer.
“Not a lot of people know about it and I read a stat on the Movember website that 30,000 males in the United States die each year from prostate cancer or testicular cancer so not many people know that and it’s just a good thing to do,” he explained.
“Participating in Movember is also a unique team building experience. We sort of compared it to breast cancer awareness for the ladies, it’s the same thing and it’s not as big as people want it to be,” said Hervato. “We just want to raise awareness for prostate cancer and it’s very common in men so we wanted to put that on the map with Movember and also it’s good team bonding too to grow some mustaches and do something fun for the month.”
The Colonials hope that as many people as possible will help them raise money for a cause that they are passionate about.
“If you want to feel good about yourself, just donate and it can be as little as a dollar. We’ve had people from our school donate 20 dollars so it’s really cool that they did that,” said Blazek.
Lewis also added, “It’s just a great cause and any type of money we can get from it, you know whether it’s my page or anybody else’s page, it’s all going to the same foundation and for the same purpose so really giving a little bit of money can make a pretty big difference.”
If you would like to donate and help the Bobby Mo Bros raise awareness and money for the cause you can click on this link, http://us.movember.com/mospace/1187582 . From there you can either donate to the team or a specific player that is participating. All money raised by the team will directly to the Movember site.
Check back each week for updates on how the team looks and for how much money they have raised so far.
