As you walk through a Sigma Nu Fraternity chapter house, don’t be surprised to see a recent composite photo with brothers showing off their best imitation of a young Tom Selleck or Ron Burgundy. This isn’t a Halloween spoof, but rather a mark of the hairy ribbon dedicated to changing the face of men’s health.
For the past two years (2018 & 2019), Sigma Nu Fraternity has led the Movember campaign for fraternities across the nation for their participation in Movember’s annual month of moustache growing, conversation starting, money raising campaign. These past two years, Sigma Nu Fraternity chapters have collectively raised over $65,000 for Movember which have gone on to fund Movember’s men’s health projects focused in prostate cancer, testicular cancer, men’s mental health and suicide prevention.
“Sigma Nu Fraternity is proud of the exemplary philanthropic work and leadership from its collegiate chapters and members in support of the Movember Foundation and its important mission to increase awareness of men’s health issues,” said Sigma Nu Executive Director Brad Beacham. “We appreciate the Foundation being a leading partner in our Helping Hand Initiative, by which we seek to serve our communities.”
The Sigma Nu campaign in 2019 was led by none other than the Gamma Chapter at Duke University, which raised $11,421 in 2019 and was captained by Movember Student Ambassador, Jon-Jon Fusté. The motivation for their involvement was strengthened this past year after Jon-Jon’s recent diagnosis of Testicular Cancer. “This past March I was diagnosed with testicular cancer but was extremely lucky to have caught it early and am now in remission. The cause is very close to my heart. Plus, growing mustaches with your friends and with a community is really fun,” said Jon-Jon Fusté – Duke University (Sigma Nu, Gamma)
The Sigma Nu community has come together to collectively make an impact in men’s health not only for their undergrad members, but also for the alumni.
In 2018, the Sigma Nu campaign was led by the Gamma Zeta Chapter at the University of Oregon, raising $19,106 throughout the year, which marks $63,000 raised for the Gamma Zeta Chapter since 2016. The Movember tradition at the University of Oregon goes back over nice years, and the chapter has seen significant impact in how their alumni members are more engaged in their health because of their involvement with Movember as undergrads.
“Nine years after participating in Movember for the first time at the University of Oregon I ran the New York City Marathon on the Movember team. Had Sigma Nu not been involved with this charity I would not have had the opportunity to share that experience with Mo Bros and Mo Sisters from around the world. The Gamma Zeta Chapter, when including alumni, is an organization of thousands of men that will be impacted by testicular and prostate cancer and mental health in some form or another. Some of us will likely die from one of these ailments, which is why it is so important for Sigma Nu men from, 18 to 108, to work together with the Movember Foundation to conquer these diseases,” said Brad Sawyer – University of Oregon (Sigma Nu, Gamma Zeta)
Through the successful campaigns that Gamma Zeta was achieving, the chapter’s Alumni Advisory Board decided to hop on board not only in a supportive role, but in hopes to improve the health of their fellow alumni members.
“As an Alumni Advisory Board, we were looking for creative ways to encourage new Alumni members to maintain a connection with the Fraternity post-graduation. The Chapter’s involvement in Movember was the catalyst for the Alumni Advisory Board to put together an annual fundraiser of our own. This has proven to provide continuity with Philanthropy and the promotion of Men’s health awareness while also providing a more meaningful purpose for being an active Alumni of the Gamma Zeta Chapter,” Dan McCarthy – University of Oregon (Sigma Nu, Gamma Zeta)
In addition to Gamma Zeta’s annual moustache campaign in the month of November, the chapter also hosts a Kick-Ball-Cancer tournament, inviting other Greek organizations to donate to play and learn the importance of testicular self-checks.
While Gamma Zeta has been involved in the men’s health movement for over nine years now, chapters at UCLA (Epsilon Pi), TCU (Lambda Epsilon), and Furman (Kappa Chi) have recently jumped on board and quickly led their community to not only raise funds but start impactful conversations around men’s mental health.
“Movember has been a staple of our chapter for the past two years. It’s a cause our guys genuinely get excited about and love to participate in. It’s started conversations about mental health throughout the brothers and has become something we use to identify ourselves as when we discuss our ongoing philanthropy and giving back. It’s become obvious that guys have taken interest in each other’s wellbeing, whether that be talking about school issues, girl problems, or stuff we have going at home. Guys just like to talk to each other, and I think a large part of that is the encouragement Movember provides and the sense of pride in being men of more words.” Billy Zegras – UCLA (Sigma Nu, Epsilon Pi).
Movember has recently launched its Educational Partner program, in which organizations like Sigma Nu Fraternity have paved a path to helping Movember reach more men of all ages. To learn more about becoming a Movember Educational Partner Movember, email Robert Huffman (University Development Manager) at Robert.huffman@movember.com.
