UoN Students Unite to Support Men’s Health Charity

UoN Students Unite to Support Men’s Health Charity M O v e m b e r M O v e m b e r

Students at the University of Nottingham (UoN) raised over £65,000 for the global charity Movember as a collective effort to raise awareness of men’s mental, physical, and sexual health. Throughout November, the students engaged in fundraising activities either individually or as part of one of the Students’ Union’s sports clubs or societies.

The donations raised by the students will contribute to more than 1,250 men’s health projects worldwide funded by Movember. Each project aims to improve research about; challenge the stigma about; or provide medical and clinical support for the following areas:

- Prostate Cancer - Men’s Health - Mental Health and Suicide Prevention - Testicular Cancer.

As part of the awareness campaign, male students shaved their facial hair and grew a moustache - encouraging supporters to donate to the specific challenge page on the Movember website for UoN students. Students unable to grow moustaches - as well as those wanting to contribute more - completed alternative activities and challenges. These activities included sports matches between the UoN sport clubs and other universities’ clubs; walking or running 60 km across the month; and nights out.

Across the 30 days, students tracked their fundraising via a leaderboard, where they could compare their results with other societies or individuals at the university. One of the biggest individual fundraisers, Joe Gomersall - a member of the Brazilian Ju Jitzu Society - shared with Impact that he chose to support Movember after tragically losing a friend to suicide earlier this year. “He was such a caring, funny and loud character and this moment really woke me up to how significant the men’s mental health crisis is.”

Gomersall praised Men’s Health Active and Movember for their campaigns to increase conversations about men’s health, stating: “It helps struggling men realise that there is no strength in silence and opening up is completely fine. Helping to promote this message is so crucial to prevent this happening to the people we all love around us.”

By Cora-Laine Moynihan

MOVEMBER

The leading charity dedicated to changing the face of Men’s Health

Photography by Thomas Acratopulo, Christy Clark and Lottie Murray

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