Six teams registered to take part in Powell River’s Movember Shave-off fundraising event at Carlson Community Club.
Movember is an international fundraising event, with teams of men and women taking part worldwide to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer research and men’s health issues.
Registered teams and individuals grew moustaches and refrained from shaving for the entire month of November. During the month, competitors canvassed sponsors to generate money that would go toward their overall total. The event at the Carlson saw contestants’ faces being shaved, while generating cash from those in attendance via a live bidding process.
“The Movember event was an excellent success,” said event organizer, Wendy Kinley, of Image 1 Salon and Spa. “This was our first year so it gave us a chance to work out any rough spots. We will be doing one next year as well.”
At the battle of the staches bid sheets were presented in silent auction format for individual team members, with competitors’ bid amounts adding to the overall total money raised. Winning bidders won the honour of shaving the moustache off a competitor’s face.
In addition to the main event, live auction-style battles took place for each team captain who competed against Powell River celebrity mo-growers. “This year we had a couple [of] celebrity stache growers,” said Kinley. “John Lloyd, who was on the Regals team, had a 45-year stache. Grant Beaudry was also there. He’d been growing one for going on 44 years. Both men allowed us to shave their staches off at the fundraiser.”
The most memorable shaving was of the club’s own Too High team. “The last team member to be raffled off hadn’t cut his hair and he hadn’t shaved for an entire year before the event,” Kinley said. “He allowed us to shave him completely bald and there was about five pounds of hair when we were done.”
The event raised $15,360. All money raised at the event went to movember.ca, with 50 per cent going to prostate cancer research and 40 per cent to promoting men’s health initiatives.
Of special note was competitor Ed Frausel, who raised more than $1,285 on his own. The Carlson Club team raised the highest amount at more than $3,500.
