It’s that time of the year again where men across the globe grow moustaches in the month formerly known as November … renamed for 30 days to Movember. Movember is the 2nd charity i actively support and have done since 2004.

Some background on the even – Living in Melbourne i had mates that had thrown together a casual party in 2003 and decided to make it a tad more official for 2004.

There’s lots of guys that deserve a pat on the back for it but the main guy is a good mate of mine Adam Garone, seen here giving the low down on last years figures and pictured with me below pulling a few beers mid Movember back at our old stomping ground in Melbourne.

Movember is a VERY lean month if you’re a single fella, the MO doesn’t have a lot of pull with the ladies. My 6′2″ friend Mousee was kind enough to bend down and get this photo with me at about the 3 week mark.

It certainly does help if you wear a ‘Mo Rides – 50 cents” t-shirt.

The long lean month was over and it’s time to head to the Gala party. Rysa went for the “Trucker” while Bob decided to roll “Dennis Lillee” style … an Australian cricketer 20 yrs or so ago.

The first year Movember was run there was about 300 people across Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane participating. The winner from 2003 Jock is handing me over the crown for Man Of Movember 2004.

Rysa and Bob also took out prizes, best Trucker and Best In Class …. celebrating our wins here with another friend and MO Sista Vicki.

Movember in 2004 raised about $55k and was pretty much a fun event with all proceeds going to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

The following year Movember went massive. Every man and his dog wanted to be part of it and it was now cool to be seen with a MO for the month.

The Movember Foundation was set-up and Adam and a few others started pulling back their work hours to get it done right. I was lucky enough to do some press stuff for the month and feature on the Movember 2005 promo material.

The venue changed and needed to hold a good few thousand. Registrations for the Gala parties went through the roof and it spread across the shores of Australia a bit further afield, to the US and UK.

At the Melbourne Gala party i had a heap of other mates on board, Dahla and Maina both got into the spirit of the event.

Once again i took out a prize, this year was “Best Porn Star” and my great mate Jason, who comments here from time to time under the name Yevgeny Grimmetski took out the Man Of Movember 2005 with his Hulk Hogan.

I’d know Rob Mills for a few years beforehand from the local area and was able to get him on board to support the cause, he didn’t grow a Mo this year but he has done in years gone by.

I bought a Zoot Suit, full length white pin-stripe tuxedo for pimps, for the occasion. The zoot suit went down a treat with the ladies.

In 2006 i moved to Japan … and didn’t participate in Movember. In 2006 the foundation went truly global and Adam was fulltime working on it as were a few others.

Money raised for 2006 was $7.5 million bucks and charities benefiting from it were the Prostate Cancer Foundation Of Australia and Beyond Blue, a charity working towards raising awareness of Mens Depression.

Last year was a big year for the guys with raising money and as importantly raising awareness about Prostate Cancer and other illnesses affecting men.

Did you know?

• Depression affects 1 in 6 men…Most don’t seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide.
• Last year in Australia 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of prostate cancer – equivalent to the number of women who die from breast cancer annually

I might be using figures from Australia but these numbers are applicable anywhere in the world. Men in all countries across the world are just as stubborn in seeking help or visiting the doctor for regular checkups.

Money raised for 2007 was a little over $16 million bucks! Not a bad effort at all considering where it started.

Check out the official site for more info on what the money did for the charities, it’s very inspiring.

As the official ambasador for Movember in Japan I will be growing a MO this year. That’s right I’m bringing the Mo back because I’m passionate about tackling men’s health issues and being proactive in the fight against men’s depression and prostate cancer.

If there’s a bit of interest amongst other MO Bro’s in Japan we can organise a few beers at the end of the month … let me know in the comments below.

If you care to support this foundation you can make a donation at this location, anything amount is fine and is very appreciated by all those benefiting from it, now and in the future.

I’ll be donating AU$1 for every person (up to $500) that subscribes to my RSS feed for the month of Movember so if either subscribe by email on the right hand side here or add my RSS feed to your feed reader and you’re doing something for charity.

Update: Here’s my mate Motts, the Cowboy, complete with a couple of Heffa’s

Similar Posts:

• Movember 2007 – Get Ready, Get Set, MO
• Australia – Beautiful One Day, Perfect The Next
• Xmas 2007 and New Years in Australia
• Today Is Just Another Day
• A Long Japanese Winter

You might consider subscribing to my RSS feed or starting to follow me on Twitter

Tagged as: beer, canon, Japan, ski