Movember sees ‘stashes on ship

HMCS Vancouver crew members show off their moustaches in the hangar of the ship on Nov. 25 while on their way to Vancouver. Crew members went without shaving for the month to raise awareness and more than $800 for Prostate Cancer.

For the month of November, sailors of HMCS Vancouver looked a little more bristly than usual when they let their upper lip locks get luxuriously long.

About 35 moustachioed Vancouver crew members, led by PO1 Yannick Gagne, managed to generate over $800 for prostate cancer research during this year’s Movember GCWCC fundraiser.

“I’ve been taking part in Movember for about three years now, but before I never committed to raising a lot of money,” says PO1 Gagne, a Senior Hull Technician. “I would donate $20 every year, but this year I thought that I could do better, so I gathered a bunch of people that also wanted to do better to.”

For the first two weeks of November, Vancouver was at sea with 40 Movember participants, but once they returned home the number shrunk to 35.

“People wanted to shave, or their significant others had something to say about it.”

PO1 Gagne let what he called his “Tom Selleck” moustache flourish for the entire 30 days of Movember, where it grew into a thick, solid moustache. However, the moment the month was over, so was the ‘stache.
“My wife hated it,” he says. “She was happy to see it go.”

With over $800 raised and more coming in every day, PO1 Gagne is happy to contribute to a cause he says all men should be aware of.

“This [prostrate cancer]affects a lot of people. Not even just the men diagnosed with it, but their friends and families,” he says. “I cross my fingers that it won’t happen to me, but you never know, right? It’s important to be involved.”

PO1 Gagne will be accepting donations until January. For those interested in contributing contact yannick.gagne2@forces.gc.ca.

Shawn O’Hara, Staff Writer