Over the course of 30 days, members of the Pennsylvania construction industry committed to giving back to their communities one moustache at a time by supporting the Movember Foundation. The organization has raised more than $550 million to date and funded more than 800 programs in 21 countries to help save and improve the lives of men affected by prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health issues. 

Every year, men all over the world grow moustaches of different shapes and sizes to have a little fun, but mostly to make a difference. Last November, more than 100 people in the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter’s network joined the Movember movement by growing and sporting moustaches for the whole month—sparking conversation about and raising money for health issues that affect millions of men and their families. 


“We got involved through Jack Farrell, one of our members from the Norwood Company, who serves on the Philadelphia Movember Board,” says Danielle Marcus, marketing and communications manager for the ABC Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter. “Our members thought it was a unique fundraiser and that it would be fun to support such an important cause.” 

Six teams cumulatively raised more than $15,000 for the Movember Foundation. Participating companies included:

• Worth & Company, Inc.;
• The Tri-M Group, LLC;
• The Norwood Company;
• Klover Contracting, Inc.;
• Allan A. Myers;
• Gorski Engineering, Inc.; and
• Steven Kempf Building Materials.

Throughout the month, the teams took pictures documenting the progress of their moustaches and shared them on the Movember website and social media sites, as well as via the ABC Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter’s weekly newsletter, which showed before-and-after pictures of some participants. Family, friends, colleagues and peers donated money to each team as they grew their moustaches. 

“I got tons of odd looks, stares and even snickering, but once I told them I was raising money for men’s cancer and health, they got more serious,” says Sean Henderson, outside sales representative for Steven Kempf Building Materials. “People still talk about it to this day. It was quite the experience embarrassing myself for a good cause.” 

As a thank-you to participants, the ABC Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter delivered mustache-shaped cookies to all of the companies that were involved. With such a positive outcome, the chapter plans on running the same fundraiser again this fall.