Movember was not much of a success this year compared to previous years at Durham College.
Between both campuses, about $830 was raised.
Team Movember, which is a group of students that raised money at the college for the fundraiser, raised $427 and the HVAC program raised $400.
Last year, about three to $4,000 was raised, according to Shayne Bedford, a professor in the HVAC program.
The Renewable Energy students won the Movember competition last year by raising 1455 dollars, he says.
Bedford says in the classroom, his class did some fundraising of its own, but there was still a lack of participation.
Bedford’s class filled a container that he brought into the class to fill with money raised from Movember.
“We have a Movember beer stein and we raised $90 on that,” he says. “Two students participated on that. This is the lowest number of students I’ve had do Movember.”
Even the teacher participation at the Whitby campus was low, according to Bedford. He says only Dave Watkins really participated.
“I think that’s it this year,” says Bedford. “I don’t think any other faculty got involved this year.”
The fundraising event started in 2003, according to the Student Association website.
It is supposed to raise awareness about men’s health issues, and focuses on prostate cancer.
The money from the fundraiser goes towards research of these health problems.
Jessica Verge, SA communications and marketing coordinator, says the SA noticed a decline in participation, but it could be due to the time of year.
“We did notice that our Movember events were not as well attended as they were last year,” she says. “However, we know November is a really hectic time for students, which is why we chose to scale back our Movember efforts.”
Verge thinks Movember is on the decline worldwide, but says Canada still ranks number one for fundraising.
The Movember website ranks Canada at number one with about $21 million raised.
She believes that Movember was big when it started because it was something new and exciting but now it’s starting to die down with the hype.
