MH3 Blog, Cause/Fundraising, TrojanOne, Work

Mo Confession

I have a confession to make.

I forgot about Movember.

Despite the weekly announcements at our all-company Monday meeting that have been alerting me since early September. Despite my company launching an engaging internal program featuring our female associates as “Mo Mentors” for our posse of male “Mo Growers.” Despite me signing up to attend and later bailing on a Movember launch event. Despite that my beloved father is five years strong since being diagnosed with prostate cancer. Despite all this, I forgot.

It gets worse.

Cue up Sunday, November 3rd, sometime around 7:00 or 8:00 a.m., depending on whether you believe in Daylight Savings Time or not. I entered the shower after an enjoyable 6k run, which was capped with my daily (check my app…it’s daily) Starbucks breakfast routine of a Venti Soy Cappuccino and Strawberry Soy Smoothie in a venti cup, followed by a quick cool-down six-minute walk home from Yonge Street to my house, to an enthusiastic canine greeting featuring a few licks on the cheek and one sneaky salty dog tongue fully inside my mouth from Prince, our Cavapoo. So after disinfecting my gums, into the shower I paraded. Cue the video….

No, I won’t make you suffer that visual, especially since I sport back hair that would make Sasquatch jealous. But picture me showering away happily about to head off to a work event, despite it being a Sunday. The weather was cooperating, my team was already on site getting set up, and my Steelers were waking up in Boston ready to crush the Patriots. Wish I could rewind that video. Clearly my daydreaming got the better of me, because before I knew it I was shaving. Not just my beard, but my nascent three-day-old Movember ’stache. To make matters worse, I didn’t even realize it for two hours. Then the horror set in.

So now you have my confession! I’m three days behind on Movember. My facial hair needs fertilizing. My fundraising does too.

So now that you’ve read this entire hairy episode, I have a simple request. Support my Movember efforts pretty please!

Here is my mo space…http://mobro.co/MoHerschel

Here is my pitch!

If you donate to me, I may donate back.
If you donate to me, I may take you to lunch.
If you donate to me, I may buy you a present.
If you donate to me, I will say thank-you!
If you donate to me, you will change the face of men’s health!!!!!

MH3 Cause/Fundraising, TrojanOne

Mid Movember

4. BlogYou saw this coming didn’t you?

My annual Movember appeal.

Here is where I lay out all the reasons you should participate in Movember, support someone who is participating in Movember, or more selfishly, support MH3’s participation in Movember! I mean you know the reasons right? The causes and charities the movement supports? The measures they suggest you take for your own health benefits?

Then I add a dash of personal appeal, telling you about people close to me who have prostate cancer or perhaps sharing a story of a friend whose father has it. Or even more dramatically, I point you to the Movember web site to read the plethora of inspiring stories and messages they collect.

Continue reading “Mid Movember” →

MH3 Cause/Fundraising, Marketing, Sponsorship, TrojanOne, Work

Movember’s over. What Next?

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.

MH3 Blog, Cause/Fundraising, TrojanOne, Work

Mo’ Money

I was called out Monday at our company-wide meeting – internally known as ChalkTalk – for not having raised enough money for our MojanOne Movember fundraising efforts. Ouch!

The other day someone said ‘How come you’re not blogging about Movember?’ Double ouch!

Then I looked online at my totals. Oh boy. Triple whammy.

So it’s time to rev up the engines and generate some Mo’ Money!

That’s where you come in. This is the one and only time I will hit you up all year for a direct pitch. But of course, if I want you to open your wallets and share your Front of the Line Amex or your Team Visa or your Priceless MasterCard numbers with me, I need to give you something in return… or at least provide valid reasons why you should donate to the cause.

So here goes… ten reasons for you to donate to my Movember Mo Space page on behalf of my company team. Continue reading “Mo’ Money” →

MH3 Blog, Cause/Fundraising, TrojanOne

One Mo’ Time!

By: Mo’Herschel Harrison
It’s been quite a year for us at TrojanOne in regards to Movember.

This past June, we had Mr. Movember – Adam Garone – bring down the house with his closing keynote at the Canadian Sponsorship Forum. If you didn’t see it, check out this link.

With all due respect to Derek Jeter, I think Adam truly deserves to be called Mr. November… Or maybe Mr. Movember.
This fall, I was asked to join the Movember Toronto Committee, aptly run by sharpshooters Jordan Vader of MLSE and Casey Rovinelli from the NHLPA. One of the initiatives we have created is a Movember Agency Challenge. For all of you in the sector who want to get involved with your own team of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas, check it out and get your team signed up. Andrew Gayle (Andrew.Gayle@mosaic.com) of Mosaic, Nick Karantjas (nkarantjas@boommarketing.ca) of BOOM! Marketing, and TrojanOne’s own Michelle Conte (michelle.conte@trojanone.com) have been doing all the heavy lifting on this one. Contact any one of them for mo’ information. Continue reading “One Mo’ Time!” →

MH3 Blog

Mo’ Pitch!

I’m a stickler for typos, so it took me a few minutes to realize that when one of my MojanOne “Movember” teammates sent me the one sentence email, “How is it Moing?” that they weren’t being sloppy! Or MOppy! They were having mo’ fun!

Sensing there was some MOmentum building in our office for this MOvember thing, I wanted to check out how the rest of our team was doing.

Our Calgary team, who are sporting the IDA moniker for Integrated Duster Activations, struck a pose on Day One that has them off and facing to some big fundraising goals. One of our interns has already raised two hundred and ten MOllars! Meow!

That would put her in second place the Toronto office, where one of our mo’s is already at $300 mones.

So, at the risk of being left behind in the must, I realized I had to seize the day and start MOwing some lawns. So here MOes.

Let’s start with the basics. We all know that 1 in 6 Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes. Last year, one of those was my father.

Unlike his son, my dad isn’t keen on publicity. (Guess the rumours of my being adopted are true!). But I have to brag a little.

My dad is the greatest man on earth.

He taught high school for a hundred years in Orillia, and was the most popular teacher in school. His class was machine shop, but his lessons were about life. He took kids to our cottage, took them on canoe trips, and took them to personal heights they would never have reached without him. He loved his students like they were his children, and as an immature youth, I was actually jealous of that.

On a teacher’s salary, he was the richest man in town. He had a warmth that everyone felt and bought winter boots for kids who couldn’t afford them. He treated everyone like a king, especially the janitors because he knew a school couldn’t exist without them.

As a father, he taught me to rake every leaf on the lawn, clear every snowflake from the driveway, and capture every speck of dirt in the garage. At 45, I’m still enthusiastically trying to meet his standards. As a husband, he has made my mother’s life magical for 53 years and they will never be apart.

I’m dedicating my involvement in Movember to my dad. When we were kids, my friends called him “Sugar Ron” because he used to be a boxer. (Google Sugar Ray Leonard if you don’t get the point!). Well, he’s still a fighter! He’s knocking the crap out of PC!

Please join me in raising awareness about Prostate Cancer and support Movember. Join a team, donate to me or my team at movember.com/mospace/770320/, or support someone else’s team.

Do it for you dad, your granddad, your dad-in-law, future dads, and all the other dads that give us our Mojo!

Mo Harrison