This November, students and staff across Oxford University came together to raise money for Movember, a charity which aims to raise awareness for men’s mental and physical health. The charity specifically targets testicular cancer, prostate cancer and suicide prevention. Since 2003, it has funded more than 1250 men’s health projects to ensure men can live happy, long lives.
Colleges across the university came up with innovative and hilarious ways to fundraise by pledging challenges at various fundraising milestones – in other words, watching some smart people do somewhat stupid things, all for a donation. In addition to growing moustaches, challenges have included dyeing hair neon colours, ice-cold swims in Hinksey Lake every day, and of course, the famous (or maybe we should say infamous) naked calendars.
The Oxford Blue spoke to two Movember team leaders, the university organiser and Christ Church team leader Sam Fineman, and The Queen’s College team leader Dan Kelly, to get an insight into the wonderful, busy, and successful month of fundraising.
What is Movember in your own words and why is it important?
Sam: Movember is the leading charity fighting to change the face of men’s health. Men die on average 4.5 years earlier than women – and often for preventable reasons. Each minute, every day a man dies by suicide, which accounts for 69% of suicides globally. This has got to change. Movember seeks to disrupt the men’s health space by finding innovative means of reaching traditionally hard-to-access communities.
One example is their ‘Ahead of the Game’ program, in which sportspeople deliver workshops in youth sports clubs to improve mental health literacy among coaches, parents and young people so they can better support themselves and their peers. Far too many of us have lost people close to us and hopefully by supporting this amazing charity, in some small way, we can make a difference.
Dan: Movember is about funding solutions to and raising awareness around issues related to men’s health. The organisation works with a whole host of related initiatives, and I would encourage everyone to check out their website to read more about these and understand where your money is going.
We all have men in our lives that we care deeply about, and there’s a good chance that these issues will affect all of us at some point. So, it’s incredibly important that we encourage open conversations about these taboo topics and help where we can.
How have colleges gotten involved with Movember?
Sam: The efforts across the university have been astounding, with over £110,000 being raised over the last three years, and there is still time to increase that total before leaderboards close on the 11th of December. There have been sponsored swims, ice baths in wheelie bins, Mario Kart marathons, and actual marathons. It’s been incredible to see so many people come together in support of this fantastic cause. A huge thanks to all the college reps, without whom none of this would be possible.
Dan: At Queen’s, lots of students have been getting involved and we have had a real variety of things going on: cold water plunges, dying hair, getting eyebrow slits, wearing costumes, lots of running, spending a day handcuffed together… to name but a few. Not to mention there are now plenty of shoddy attempts at facial hair knocking around the college. We’ve been having a lot of fun with it, but we are also very proud to have raised over £4,000 for this incredibly important cause.
What is the funniest challenge you have seen?
Sam: That’s a hard one – I’ve enjoyed seeing people spend a full day handcuffed. There have been some outstanding haircuts, but my favourite challenge has got to be the Naked Calendars… I think my grandma will enjoy her future Christmas present.
Dan: It’s a tough call because there have been some fantastic challenges. I think my favourite has to be the week-long Huel diet (where a Queen’s student only ate Huel for the entire week), which led to us being reposted on the Huel Instagram page.
What has made this year’s Movember different to previous ones?
Sam: It’s been incredible to see the regrowth of college culture post-pandemic. Certainly, at Christ Church, the response this year has been massive, which has been mirrored across all the other colleges throughout the university. It’s been an absolute honour to work with so many fantastic people driving the effort to make college communities active, inclusive, and entertaining spaces that everyone can be a part of.
Dan: At Queen’s at least, I think this year we had such great involvement across the undergraduate community compared to the past. The success of the college’s campaign this year is really down to everyone who pledged challenges, shared on social media and, crucially, donated! Of course, the more people you involve the wider the network of potential donors. Thanks to the number of people who took part we were able to sustain the effort across the whole month to give people time to donate. We borrowed the challenges model from other teams in previous years, and it works very well because it decentralises the responsibility and allows for this mass involvement. So really, I have to thank everyone who got involved, and I hope that the spirit we had this year will continue.
Are there ways to support the charity throughout the rest of the year?
Sam: Of course! Personally, I will be running the Paris marathon in April. Anything you can do, either to fundraise or raise awareness of these important causes is fantastic and can happen at any time of year! Moreover, checking in with your mates and checking down below for any lumps and bumps can be done at any time.
Dan: Even though November is over, donations can be made to Movember year-round. The most important takeaway is to check in with your friends and family and make sure you keep an eye on your own health as well. If you feel inspired by this article, then moustaches can be grown, and challenges can be completed at any time of the year. As Sam Fineman puts it – you can Mo your own way!