Thirteen men at three Westlock businesses put their razors away last month, and in the process raised nearly $13,000 for prostate and testicular cancer research.
The men work at Westlock Motors, Westlock Terminals and the Westlock Veterinary Centre, and together raised $12,960 for Movember Canada; they also arranged to donate another $750 to the Westlock Food Bank.
Colby Ducharme, who helped to spearhead the fundraising drive at Westlock Motors, said it was the most money he had seen raised in one drive.
“I’ve participated in Movember for a couple of years now, and maybe raised close to $1,000,” he said. “For the three of us to raise that kind of money, we were all very happy with the outcome. Of course, it’s for a good cause, which made it even better.”
Movember is a men’s health awareness campaign that is based on the idea of growing moustaches – or ‘mo’s – during November. Money raised during the month goes towards funding research to improve men’s health, particularly when it comes to prostate cancer, testicular cancer and male mental health initiatives.
In order to spur on donations, Ducharme said the three companies involved in the drive were treating it as a challenge to see who could raise the most money. The catch was the company that raised the least would be forced to donate $250 to the food bank.
However, it was decided all three companies would pony up $250, providing $750 for the food bank.
Despite the three companies each donating to the food bank, there was still an element of competition to see who could raise the most for Movember.
In the end, the vet centre raised the most, bringing in $4,633. Westlock Terminals brought in $4,340, while Westlock Motors collected $3,987.
Although his company didn’t win, Westlock Terminals’ John Montgomery said he was more than happy to be involved in the drive.
“At the end it didn’t really matter who was on top and who was at the bottom,” he said. “It was just pretty awesome to see the amount of money we raised.”
The terminal was a latecomer to the competition, Montgomery said.
It was originally only Westlock Motors and the vet centre that were involved, but the terminal got invited to join thanks to an employee’s wife who worked at the vet centre.
Negotiations took place in October to determine the rules of the contest, he said, so that “from Nov. 1, it was ‘game on.’”
Over at the vet centre, Krysta Chichak said she and the rest of the clinic’s staff appreciated everyone who contributed to the cause.
“It was an overwhelming amount of support,” she said. “We could have never imagined having such a large amount of donations. It was really good to see the community support everyone.”
