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The Cinnaminson Police and Fire Departments have teamed up this month of November to raise men’s health awareness. Please consider supporting their cause.
All month long, members of the CPD and CFD have been growing mustaches and/or goatees in an effort to raise awareness for the various diseases affecting men in the community.
This is a national effort known as Movember. The motto is “To change the face of men’s health.”
The donate page for the team, of which they call themselves CinnCity Staches, can be found here.
“Movember really is something we look forward to around here,” Public Safety Director Michael King said. “These guys are always excited to grow their mustaches and goatees. We have a rule here against goatees, but I told the guys they could grow them this year because the firefighters always seem to do a good job of growing more than just the mustache.”
“Men’s health is extremely important and it’s not just one cause. Movember encompasses a variety of issues related to men’s health that we are trying to bring awareness to as a community. It’s important that people know they are not fighting alone.”
As of Tuesday afternoon the team has raised $1,500 for men’s health awareness.
One of the biggest things the team is looking to change is the idea that men cannot seek help when needed.
Lt. Gregory Park of the Cinnaminson Fire Department, recently said, “Too often men are to manly to admit they need and or want help. We NEED to change that attitude. I feel the more manly, much harder thing to do is ask for and get the help needed. If I can reach even one person from an irreversible fate, that would mean so much more than any amount of money anyone could ever raise.”
At the end of the month the police officers and firefighters will have their pictures taken so students at Rush School can judge the facial hair experiments and pick a winner from the team.
“I can’t claim to be the winner. I can’t even put myself in the running,” Fire Inspector Lee Park said. “I know I’m in the back-end of it. We’re going to leave this in the hand of the children. We have educated them enough so we are going to leave it in their hands.”
The Movember initiative in Cinnaminson began in the Cinnaminson Fire Department some seven years ago under the direction of Firefighter/EMT Jim Clancy.
Park approached the police department not long after and the two entities have been working as a team ever since.
“I kind of took the reigns for it and we got everybody else involved,” Park said. “When it started I didn’t have a personal tie to it. It needed to be done after breast cancer awareness month. Now I have a personal tie to it. As our team has grown, Movember has grown. They cover prostate and testicular cancer and mental health. We’ve grown with them over these past seven years.”
Park spoke about the relationship between the two departments and how everyone enjoys the Movember challenge.
“It shows the new generation of both departments. We’re growing together. There’s calls we handle together day-to-day and now we get to do something on the personal side with each other. It helps the camaraderie between the two departments. It’s fun to see the progress as the month goes along. It’s a bond between all of us that keeps the lighter side of the job fun.”
Team captain and police officer Mike Curran added, “If you ‘mustache’ me, Movember is a chance for officers to show their stubble to promote awareness, help raise money for men’s health, and a chance to give back to our communities.”
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