Raising money with the Mo
Fruits and vegetables weren’t the only thing sprouting up at Oppy in November—seven “Mo Bros” and one “Mo Sista” were raising awareness for Movember by growing what they could on their upper lip.
Movember is an annual event involving the growing of mustaches during the month of November to draw attention to men’s health issues such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and more. The Vancouver sales team joined forces to create the “Lip Dusters” including David Cheung, Colbert Rahal, Myles Coueffin, Sarah Brykajlo, Doug Dunlop, David Wazny and Edwen Ma along with veteran Dean Barbis, sales manager of the Santa Maria office, who celebrated supporting this initiative for the seventh year.
With many Movember illnesses hitting close to home, the team felt incredibly passionate about these subjects including Dean who said, “Too many men feel they are too tough to talk about these issues whether it be mental health, cancer or addiction. I have lost too many friends to one or the other and I’m only 43.”
How does growing a mustache raise awareness? It starts the conversation Myles said, “It was a slow start but once the chops came through I was happy they were a great talking point with people.” And when some didn’t have a beard to bear they still made the most of it, “Even though I couldn’t grow my own mustache, I knew I needed to take part one way or another,” said Sarah.
We’re so proud of the team for collectively raising over $7,700 to this important cause. “Please reach out to a friend or family member and ask how they are. Sometimes all we need to do is ask. We all need someone to talk to,” Dean encouraged.
“The fact that Oppy matches contributions is extremely noble,” Colbert said. Thank you to everyone who donated and to our coworkers who submitted their contributions to be matched by Oppy—there’s still time to do so if you haven’t yet! Oppy generously matches employee donations to a non-profit up to $50, please follow this link to the HR section of the Intranet and select the Charitable Donation Matching Approval Form should you wish to submit.
