Tonight marks the official end of Movember, at least in mo’ world, as I head off to the big Gala Parté at Kool Haus.
It’s been a record year. Last I heard, the Canadian fundraising total was over $32 million and I bet by the time you read this, the number will start with a three, and end above a five (Yes, I am predicting at least $35 million, if my bad word puzzle didn’t make sense).
With over 240,000 people supporting Movember, it has to be one of the largest fundraising events in the country, if not one of the greatest movements of our time.
I am very proud of our company team, MojanOne, chasing our $20,000 goal and our current ranking of number 87 in the ‘Top 100’ corporate teams nationally. Unreal. Super heartfelt thanks goes out to Jody Facchini, our MojanOne team captain. She was elected by her MojanOne teammates to lead our internal committee and knocked it out of the park… like with everything she tackles. She even got my family dog on board!
Also, a HUGE thanks to all of you who supported my own fundraising efforts. As of press time, I was at THREE-THOUSAND, THREE-HUNDRED AND SIXTY SMACKERS! Wowee! Thankee!
If you don’t read this until Saturday or later, by that time I will be clean-shaven. I am debating between drunkenly shaving it off myself tonight after the Parté, or waiting till the a.m. to go see Alfred, my trusty barber on Mount Pleasant Road. Any advice amigos?
So now what? It took me a while to get into the swing of things this year, despite my being on the Movember Toronto Committee (Big shout out to Jordan Vader & Casey Rovinelli for their leadership, not to mention Movember Canada national director Pete “Bomber” Bombaci!). In fact, I really didn’t start canvassing hard until mid-month.
Subconsciously, I think I needed to be emboldened by my ‘stache. Once it started to come in… it was almost like I was granted hairy super powers. Because strand by strand, I raised more and more money… to the point where I am now wondering whether this hairy lip was my personal long-lost elixir?
So what’s next? Once my lip turns from black (and grey) to itchy red, what do I do? Can you believe it? Movember has created a new side effect. A post-Movember mood, in the month of December.
What will now galvanize our company? What will dominate water cooler chat? What will we discuss for the first fifteen minutes of every meeting we are in? What will replace the office chirping the growth-challenged have faced?
Perhaps the holidays? Year-end budgets? Office parties? The first sign of snow? School breaks? The race towards NFL playoffs? Boxing Day shopping? New Year’s parties? Resolutions for 2012? All of the above?
Whatever it is… I hope we can all take a wee lesson from Movember. Our time on this earth is precious. Many people will face issues like prostate cancer. Serious, deadly issues. Let’s do our best to conquer these issues. Whether they are personal, physical, or professional.
But along the way, let’s have fun.