Yes, your mustache will make you more attractive to women.

Yes, your mustache will make a difference in sick kid’s life. It will grant a wish that will give hope, strength and joy.

The following are two wishes that were given through the help of Mustaches for Kids Ottawa 2009 Campaign.

Zoe

Zoe is a sweet 10 year old girl from Ottawa who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis.  She struggles for every breath she takes and spends a large percentage of each day exercising and going through routines to keep her lungs and passage ways clear.

Zoe spends many hours watching TV during these routines and treatments.  One of her favorite shows is “Hannah Montana”.  When asked what her wish would be, it was no surprise that it was to meet the girl behind the costume, Hannah Montana (a.k.a. Miley Cyrus).  Zoe’s wish came true on April 29 2010. The meeting co-incited with World Wish Day – and Zoe was proud to be the Canadian Ambassador for this amazing day.

This wish was possible due to the fundraising efforts of the “Mustaches for Kids” event held in November 2009 and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Eastern Ontario.

Zoe, her younger sister and her parents, flew to Los Angeles and sat in the front row to watch Miley Cyrus perform a special song.  She also joined Miley at lunch, received autographed souvenirs and had pictures taken.

Taylor

Taylor is a happy 8 year old girl who was born with a neuro-genetic disorder called Angelman’s Syndrome. There are many characteristics of this disease but the most debilitating are sleep disturbance and seizures. Taylor is non-verbal but communicates very well through gestures and sounds.

When at home, one of Taylor’s favorite things to do is spend time watching Disney characters on TV. Her favorite being Mickey Mouse!

Through the generous fundraising efforts of the M4K Group and the Make-A -Wish Foundation of Eastern Ontario, Taylor and her family enjoyed a carefree week at “Give Kids the World” in Orlando, Florida. While there, they were able to capture many of the theme parks and attractions.

The cliché “a picture tells a thousand words” is absolutely the right for Taylor. Every picture received from the whole trip says it all! As her mom stated “watching her expression when she fed the dolphins, to the excitement she expressed riding Splash Mountain, to sitting in the ocean and having the tide splash around her are only a few of the numerous moments that I will cherish forever. When she sits and looks at the many pictures, I see that beaming smile appear on her face and a twinkle in her eyes. Priceless for our family!”

This is the home stretch. You have a week left to persuade, plea, pry, and pester for pledges. Every little bit helps. The efforts in this last week will probably mean giving another child a life-changing wish.

You guys have done a really great job this year in promoting and furthering the cause. I am proud to wear this stache with such a fine group of young men.

See you Friday.

Stache Bash

Two words: dress to impress. And be prepared for a good time.

We will be descending upon Hooley’s Pub on December 4.  There will be half price apps and drinks.Plan to be there at 7:30pm. The festivities will start promptly at 8pm. More information can be found on the site.

Prizes

It is new this year, but we have prizes for the top fundraisers.A big thanks to Dennis from Make a Wish for pulling these prizes together. If you see him around on Friday, be sure to say thanks – you can’t miss him, he’ll be wearing a mustache.

And the prizes are:

1. Signed Daniel Briere Jersey.

2. Overnight trip to Calabogie Resort for two with 1 round of golf.

3. Sens tickets.

We also have a special prize for the sweetest stache but you won’t find out until the sash is presented.

Of course there is also the Kevin Janok Award for worst stache. Typically it goes to Kevin Janok – but there are some nastaches this year and with the right costume he could be dethroned.

Pledging and Dropping off money

This isn’t all that complicated, here is everything you need to know:

• Bring all your money and pledge sheets with you on Friday. Write your name on the pledge sheet. Have it totaled prior to arrival.
• Please write a cheque for the cash portion of your pledging. This is a nice-to-have and saves us a lot time and effort.
• Don’t include donations over paypal on your pledge sheet.  At the venue, we will have the total amount pledged to you over paypal.
• For those who pledged to you over paypal, they will get a receipt, we have their information.
• If you can’t make it on Friday, you have a few options:
  • drop off your money and pledge sheet to me during business hours at my place of work or on the weekend/evenings to my house – email me for the address and my mobile number
  • send money to this email address from online banking.
  • send the money through paypal on the site
  • mail checks to me. email for the address.

We will be meeting up this Friday at the Standard on Elgin. (They have awesome burgers!) Come out, say hi, check in and raise a pint to the sweet, sweet staches.

Stache Bash: The magic is starting to happen. We will be descending upon Hooley’s Pub on December 4.   Again, there will be half price apps and drinks.Plan to be there at 7:30pm.  The festivities will start promptly at 8pm. More information can be found on the Stache Bash page.

We will be meeting up this Friday at Hooley’s Pub at 292 Elgin Street. Come out this Friday and meet some of your brothers-in-stache. Trade humiliating stories, general non-threatening taunts and jibs and pledging tips. If you haven’t made out yet, then try to make it out for a beer, it would be great to meet some of you rookie growers.

There will be half price apps and drinks until 9pm.

Hope to see you there.

Read on for pledging tips and information.

Pledging

The easiest way by far it to direct your friends and family to the website to donate on line.

Here are a few tips to help you get the word out:

• Send an email to everyone you know.  There are some tips on the website on some
• wording that you can use.  Don’t forget to send the link to the website.
• Change your status on facebook to say your’re growing a mustache and ask people to donate. Dont be afraid to change it a couple times a week. And change your photo to a nice stachey pic to get the point across.
• Posters are available to print from the website. And we have pins and biz cards if you want them.

Pledging – FAQs

do you prefer if we bring the money we’ve collected each week, or wait until the final day before bringing in the pledge forms and money?

Wait until the final day and feel free to check in each week. For the cash you have collected, write a cheque for the total amount made out to Make a Wish Eastern Ontario.  For any donor that is writing a cheque, they can make it out to Make a Wish Eastern Ontario – and bring the cheques along with you to Stache Bash.  Use the pledge form for people who want tax receipts, and when you turn in your pledge shee on the final day, be sure to list your total amount raised.

I posted a few photos from Friday on the Facebook page and the rest are in the gallery on the site.  Thanks to Paul Galipeau for the awesome shots.

Pledging

I would encourage you to start your fundraising right away. The pledge form is available for download on the site.

Check in with us throughout the campaign with your progress so we can update our raised-to-date number.

If you weren’t there, Make-a-Wish has given us a signed Daniel Briere jersey for the top fundraiser.

Meetups

We will be meting on Friday at the Clocktower at 7pm. If you can’t make it, don’t worry, just send in your photo to me.

The following meetups are going to be held at other participating bars like the Standard and Hooley’s. Details to come.

Stache Bash

The Stache Bash will be held at Hooley’s this year. And, (drum roll), our beloved Sylvie Hill will be joining us again to corral the stache stampede.

Photos

If you don’t see your photo on the site:

• You need to Join to appear on the site. (returning members are not grandfathered in)
• If you don’t make it out to the meetups, send us a shot by email and we’ll post it.

There are only 5 short days until clean shave day and my follicles are tingling.

A few tips to make the most of your clean shave week:

• Update your facebook status to say “I am growing a mustache for Mustaches for Kids. Clean Shave day is Octover 30.” and share the m4kottawa.org link with your buds
• Download and print the poster for your office/apt building/cave/etc. Big ups to Ben Watts for this year’s poster design.
• Forward this email along to all those guys who last year said ” hey, that’s a bitchin’ stache, can I grow next year”
  

If you haven’t already, please sign up. Most importantly get the m4k rookies to sign up so I can get them on the list.

If you missed last week’s email, you can read it here.

See you on Friday.

We are happy to announce the FIFTH ANNUAL MUSTACHES FOR KIDS MUSTACHE GROWING CONTEST AND FUNDRAISER. This letter is your official personal invitation to greatness.

Last year, you, our devoted mustachees, raised $20,000 for Make a Wish Eastern Ontario. For more details on how your efforts helped, I have posted a letter from the people at Make a Wish: http://www.m4kottawa.org/2009/10/06/how-our-stachely-efforts-in-2008-helped-others/

So sharpen up your razors because Clean Shave Day is October 30, only a couple short weeks away.  We will be meeting at the Clocktower on Bank St to celebrate this loss of innocence. If we’re going to continue to beat our fundraising record, we’re going to have to bring our A-game this year. Encourage your friends/co-workers/family to join as well. “A single hair is nothing on its own, but united they form a mighty Mustache!”