Husky is helping to put a face on men's health issue

Husky team members who helped raise money for prostate cancer research included (back row) M. Stirpe, B. Peters, M. Flood, Y. Mohamad, A. Feiner, K. Spicer, J. Landshcoot, M. Siriska, T. Lourenco, J. Caldwell, D. Mackie, J. Bilton, S. Corey, M. De Graaff, M. Colella, E. Scott, (front) G. Pannia, C. Toomey, M. Rowe, E. Haroun, A. Rostamimouri, D. Motomura, J. Costa.

Movember, a small fundraising campaign started in Australia in 2003 to raise funds for prostate cancer, has evolved into an international effort to improve men's health. Participating in Movember involves growing a mustache or mo' through the month of November and collecting money for doing so.

This is the first year that it has been officially run in Canada. All Canadian donations are made directly to the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada who will use the money to create awareness and fund research of prostate cancer in Canada.

Each year, roughly 22,300 Canadian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and some 4,300 die of the disease, making it the number one cancer threat to Canadian men. Because of the nature of the screenings, they are often avoided and the largely curable disease goes undetected until it has progressed and spread, resulting in the almost 20% fatality rate.

This year 28 Husky team members from the development engineering group in Bolton stepped up to do their part in supporting this excellent cause by putting a new face on men's health. As the mo' has become rather rare since its popularity in the '70s and '80s, it has generated a lot of fun and laughter around the office, as everyone tries to out-grow and out-fundraise each other. As November came to a close, the Husky team has shattered all initial goals by collectively raising more than $6,500.

With the success Husky has achieved with its development engineering department in a few short weeks, plans are already in place to extend the campaign to include Husky global next year. It is a brilliant campaign for a very worthy cause, so look for the term Movember to become synonymous with the month of November, in its quest to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer.

For more details, visit www.movember.com\ca.