News > April 10, 2008

By Katie Phillips | Staff writer

The university is participating in a fundraiser this year called Mustaches for Kids. Beginning in 1999, Mustaches for Kids was formed to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Los Angeles. Make-A-Wish is a non-profit organization dedicated to granting the wishes of children with terminal or life-threatening illnesses.

Participants are called “Growers” and raise money by growing mustaches for four full weeks. Growers receive pledges of support for growing a mustache for a month. Growers are allowed to shave their faces, not including the mustache, once a week at most.

Donations are collected from the Growers themselves. At the end of the four weeks, also called “The Growing Season,” an independent panel of judges declares one of the volunteer’s mustaches to be the “Sweetest.”

Mustaches for Kids and their Growers have raised over $300,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and a variety of other children charities. Although donations are usually given to Make-A-Wish, the university’s chapter of Mustaches for Kids will donate all of their money to Nothing But Nets, another registered charity.

Nothing But Nets is a non-profit that provides mosquito nets for families in Africa who are in constant high danger of contracting malaria from mosquitoes.

These nets are the most cost-effective way to prevent any further contraction of malaria.

One net costs $10 to buy and deliver. One family can use the same $10 net for four years because of the insecticide that is woven into the net fabric. The nets have proven to reduce transmission of malaria up to 90 percent.

Teddy Koch, also known as “Mustache Teddy,” says “it really is a Wake Forest wide event.” The 70 Growers have signed up include undergraduates, Calloway students, medical school students and even faculty and staff.

The first mustache growth period began on April 1. The first mustache check-in was April 8 in Shorty’s. Growers came to get their pictures taken and compare mustaches with other participants.

Women and others who cannot participate in the actual growing of mustaches are welcome to sponsor a Grower.

In fact, on the organization’s Web site it says that “the mustache is more in the heart than on the face.”

After four weeks of mustache growth, all participants and supporters will join together in celebration. The “Stache Bash” will include festive celebrations, mustache contests and other games. It will take place on April 29 in a location that has yet to be determined.

Donations can be made directly to Nothing But Nets on 911 Polo Rd. More information is also provided on www.wakemustaches.org.