Sash Ferguson Site Operations Manager Nicole Cannon said resident John Carey and volunteer Patrick Wynne spent November growing their ‘mos’ and tripled their 2017 fundraising total to raise funds for, and awareness of, men’s health issues including suicide prevention and cancer.

“John and Patrick’s participation in Movember encouraged many donations from their family and friends as well as staff across Eldercare,” said Nicole.

“We enjoyed a BBQ lunch on International Men’s Day on 19 November to celebrate the men in our lives and show our support for John and Patrick’s Movember fundraising efforts.

“They were both named Sash Ferguson’s ‘Positive Male Role Models’ and many comments were shared about their compassionate and caring natures.”

John, 94, said he has learnt more about Movember since taking part in his first fundraising campaign last year and wanted to improve on last year’s donation total of $467 by utilising Facebook and his many social connections.

“The suicide rate among men is tragically too high – and it’s important for people to remember that mental health is just as important as physical health,” said John.

“I think there’s a lot of men in the community who don’t get help and need it – so I thought it was very worthwhile for us to raise awareness and money to support them.”

John said that the Sash Ferguson Lifestyle team had been an ‘enormous’ support and helped the team exceed their fundraising target of $1,000 by mid-November.

“We’ll recruit some new ‘Movember members’ and grow the team in 2019 to encourage even more contributions,” said John.

Team Sash Ferguson have increased their Movember target to $1,500 – and donations are still welcome.

Image: John Carey shortly before he shaved his ‘mo’.