News

Pictured: Lucas MacFadyen and Jessie Blanchard at the Movember gala

For the third year in a row, Dalhousie has placed among the top campus fundraisers for Movember, with a second-place win in the Big Moustache on Campus network for 2016. Dalhousie’s team, led by Rowe School of Business commerce students, has a reputation for successful Movember fundraising, and this year, the “Rowe Mo Bros and Sistas,” raised a total of $29,330 for research into prostate cancer and other issues affecting men’s health and wellness.

Jessie Blanchard and Lucas MacFadyen are commerce students and co-captains of the Movember team. They explain that Movember has grown beyond its initial narrower focus on prostate cancer research: “it’s a movement that centres on raising funds and awareness for all issues related to men’s health.”

The captains list some of the activities that they and the team organized last month. These included the annual closing gala, a dodgeball tournament, club nights at Taboo and the Keith’s Brewery, and even an alumni event in Toronto at the Movember Canada House. Blanchard and MacFadyen note that Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, dean of the Faculty of Management, joined the team and helped with the fundraising efforts, while Marianne Hagen, alumni and student engagement officer in the Faculty, helped by organizing an alumni event in Halifax.

For MacFadyen and Blanchard, leading the Movember initiative is especially meaningful. “Both of us have been affected by these issues in some way,” they explain, “so we each felt a connection to Movember’s message.” The students both placed in the top three student fundraisers in Canada, with Blanchard earning the very top spot.

Other notable fundraisers on the Rowe team included top “Mo Sista” Ashley Sambrook and top “Mo Bro” Tate Drummond. They led the team of 82 students. MacFadyen and Blanchard believe that it’s the tone as well as the message of Movember that brings out students in such high numbers. “The Movember campaign resonates with so many people because of its fun-spirited nature, and because of the underlying cause,” they say. “We can all agree that stopping men dying too young is a cause worth supporting.”