Fraternity-hosted Movember event supports cancer research

Members of the Kappa Sigma fraternity exhibited marvelous moustaches Tuesday in the Tyler Haynes Commons at the 38th annual Movember Trivia Night.

Fifteen teams filled the Commons and answered trivia questions about pop culture, food, sports, Greek mythology and miscellaneous information. Though Sigma Chi ended up beating the Delta Diva team in a tie-breaker and winning the $100 prize, the brothers in Kappa Sig used the event to display the hard work they have put into growing their moustaches for Movember.

Movember is Kappa Sig's philanthropy event for the month of November. The Movember Foundation promotes awareness for men's health issues around the world, specifically prostate and testicular cancer, philanthropy chairman Garret Lanigan said. "Every November, we use our moustaches as a way to raise awareness, as well as money, for prostate and testicular cancer research.

"The whole idea of growing moustaches to support cancer research at first sounded a bit ridiculous to me. I wasn't sure how not shaving for a month would help others out, but it does. Our moustaches essentially work as an advertisement for men's health issues and are a way to encourage people to donate money to help fund cancer research."

When people inquire about the moustaches every day, and at events like trivia night, we have the opportunity to lay out some of the facts. For example, one in six men has prostate cancer. It becomes almost impossible to ignore the issue, Lanigan said.

"I feel lucky to be able to be a part of the Movember cause," Lanigan said. "While we all may look somewhat absurd with our lackluster moustaches, I truly feel that we are making a difference."

Another brother in Kappa Sig, Andrew Pena, decided to participate in the Movember month because it sounded like a fun way to spread the news of a serious cause, but his moustache has not been grown without challenges, he said.

"One of the biggest challenges is trying to make our moustaches not look terrible," Pena said. "Sometimes it can be really uncomfortable."

At the end of the month, all of the brothers get together and change their moustaches to look extra crazy, and then we vote on a winner, Pena said. "I'm really looking forward to seeing that, as well.

"This has been a really fun experience, and the cause also really hits home for a lot of us. A lot of the guys have close personal connections to the cause," he said.

Trivia night provided a way for girls to get involved in the Movember cause. Many of the teams were created by girls, such as sophomore Chloe Zung.

"We chose to get a team together for the event to represent Delta Gamma and have fun, but Movember is also a great cause and deserves support," Zung said.

The cause definitely catches the attention of people on campus, Zung said. "Some of the guys have really good moustaches, and then there's also a lot of ... not so good ones. They definitely deserve an A for effort!"

Lanigan said: "Yes, we might get daily reminders of how absolutely ridiculous we look, like strange looks from professors in class, but the support from family and friends has been more than we anticipated. Our fraternity has already raised almost $5,000 for the cause, and we are hoping with a week left to increase that number by a couple thousand more."

Contact reporter Lauren Shute at lauren.shute@richmond.edu