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Growing facial hair out for the month of November holds a lot of meaning to Adam Brodstein. He is a member of Syracuse University’s fundraising team for Movember, an annual campaign to raise awareness for prostate and testicular cancer as well as mental health and suicide prevention. Growing out a mustache or facial hair is the iconic symbol of the fundraising challenge.

“I almost never have facial hair. I wear a mustache this whole month, and so many of my friends come up to me, they’re like, ‘Oh, what’s your mustache?’” Brodstein said. “It just gives me an excuse to kind of talk about it.”

Brodstein, a 2018 graduate of SU, joined the university’s Movember fundraising team while he was a student. He’s not alone in his efforts, though. SU’s team, Boys Things, has over 100 members, many of whom are alumni or current students at SU. For just under a decade, Boys Things has participated in Movember, growing in both size and money raised each year. Boys Things is Movember’s No.1 university team in terms of money raised, and the No. 4 team in the United States for 2021, raising over $67,500 as of Sunday night.

“All of us kind of realized that (Movember’s mission) really plays an impact in all of our lives. And that’s really when (Boys Things) expanded,” Brodstein said.

Movember was founded in Australia in 2003. Initially it was only to raise money for prostate cancer and men’s health. Over the course of almost two decades, Movember, an abbreviation of the words mustache — or “mo” for short — and November, has grown into a global initiative, with teams fundraising in 19 countries plus Hong Kong. The initiative is open for individuals, teams or businesses to participate in. Individuals can also donate to the cause through a participating fundraiser or team.

Boys Things has grown under the leadership of 2017 graduate Michael Dellon. He currently serves as the team’s captain and has been in that role for seven years. Dellon’s journey with Movember began as a philanthropy project within his fraternity. His personal stake in the cause of Movember, though, has led him to broaden the reach of the fundraiser since graduating.

“The reason why I became the captain is because I’m actually a two-time cancer survivor, so it was something that I was really passionate about,” Dellon said.

Movember and Boys Things rely on grassroots fundraising, with members posting on social media and contacting family and friends.
Courtesy of Michael Dellon

Dellon has played a role in the success of Boys Things’ fundraising as captain. He aims to increase the involvement of members on the team, encouraging social media advertisements and grassroots fundraising.

“I’m always moving the goalposts a little bit,” Dellon said. “We reached our goal of ($60,000); I’ll probably end up moving that to something that’s achievable but higher.”

This year, Dellon and other prominent members of Boys Things hosted an in-person fundraiser at The Craic, a bar in Brooklyn, where the team raised almost $10,000. The in-person fundraiser was the largest event Boys Things put on for the month, and Dellon hopes to host more like it. He wants to cater to the SU alumni in cities outside of New York City, too.

“I think it could be cool if we have another event in Boston or in LA,” Dellon said. “If we have the team out there to kind of support that, then it’s definitely something that we’re totally down for.”

The team emphasizes its grassroots approach to fundraising, relying on the connections maintained by the team’s social network. This method incorporates a variety of fundraising strategies, including contacting individual family members and friends and posting graphics on social media.

Noah Garson, a 2018 graduate of SU and the third-highest fundraiser on Boys Things, has been participating in Movember for five years. He’s found success in fundraising on Instagram, relying on consistent story posts and reminders of the month long campaign. He emphasized the importance of having a strong reason to fundraise.

“I think my first year I raised, like, $300. But since then … every year, I kind of find a different motivation. The first few years it was for Michael,” Garson said. “In 2019, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. And so that was largely my motivation.”

Within the Boys Things page on the Movember site, there is a tracker for the money raised by the team as a whole and the money raised by each member. These features provide an easy way for the team and individual members to track their progress and growth from year to year and continuously break their own records.

Because of the team’s success on the leaderboards this year, Dellon wants to continue the recruitment of fundraisers at SU and increase the presence of the fundraising initiative on campus.

“It’s just about recruiting not only more people, but the right people and being able to spread the word wherever we can,” Dellon said. “The biggest thing is just trying to make the team an extension of Syracuse and leaving it open to anyone who wants to help out and make a difference.”

Published on November 29, 2021 at 12:19 am