I have been sending a few messages and emails over the last week or so to attempt to recruit a few Chief Officers (ACC, DCC and Chief Constable) for a charitable endeavour which I believe is the first of its kind.
Many forces in England and Wales are prepared to relax their rules on facial hair for the annual Movember event. I have decided to ask our Chiefs to join me in raising a some high profile cash for a very worthy cause. To this end I have registered MinimumCover as a Movember participant and have a membership page at http://mobro.co/minimumcover. It would be amazing if I could get even ONE Chief Constable to put aside the restrictions of the traditional corporate image associated with the rank and go ‘mo’ for the next month. Although the top brass are my ultimate target audience, I would of course accept membership from any readers that wanted to get involved.
I am very excited about the potential exposure that this twist on the usual Movember participant could attract. I think that it would be a powerful way of our Chiefs showing their rank and their force in a very positive light – it is also an excellent opportunity to attract some good press.
Sponsorship forms can be downloaded from the Movember website at http://uk.movember.com/mospace/donations and details of how to submit contributions are also available from the same page.
For those that have not previously been involved in this event, here is a little info:
The Movember Effect: Awareness & Education, Survivorship, Research
The funds raised in the UK are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and our men’s health partners, Prostate Cancer UK and the Institute of Cancer Research. We work with these partners to ensure that Movember funds are supporting a broad range of innovative, world-class programmes in line with our strategic goals in the areas of awareness and education, survivorship and research.
Movember – a global movement
Since its humble beginnings in Melbourne, Australia Movember has grown to become a truly global movement inspiring more than 1.9 Million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to participate with formal campaigns in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK, South Africa, Ireland, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and the Czech Republic. In addition, Movember is aware of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas supporting the campaign and men’s health causes across the globe, from Russia to Dubai, Hong Kong to Antarctica, Rio de Janeiro to Mumbai, and everywhere in between.
No matter the country or city, Movember will continue to work to change established habits and attitudes men have about their health, to educate men about the health risks they face, and to act on that knowledge, thereby increasing the chances of early detection, diagnosis and effective treatment.
In 2011, over 854,000 Mo Bros and Mo Sistas around the world got on board, raising GBP 79.3 million.
Big steps have been taken towards changing attitudes and habits relating to men’s health around the world but there is still much to be done to catch up with the women’s health movement. Via the moustache, Movember aims to fulfill its vision of having an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health, by continuing to spark conversation and spread awareness of men’s health each year.
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Please can I ask that everyone who reads this sends tweets, emails and any other available messages to their own bosses in the hope that maximum exposure can be given. Even if we only raise £1 then that is a positive result – I hope that the actual figure will be much more.
