About 8,720 men in the United States will be diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2016, according to a report from the American Cancer Society. About 380 U.S. men will die of this disease in the same year.
Statistics like these led the Interfraternity Council at IU to create a philanthropy campaign with the Movember Foundation, said Jesse Scheinman, the IFC vice president of communication programs.
The Movember Foundation helps fund testicular and prostate cancer research, mental health and physical activity, Scheinman said. The Foundation is the No. 1 global provider of testicular cancer research programs, according to its website.
For this philanthropy project, IFC collaborated with the Panhellenic Association to involve more students in the cause, said Madi Lasson, PHA director of service.
This will be the first time IFC and PHA team up for a major philanthropy event, Lasson said.
In addition to this new pairing, IFC recently opened an online application for philanthropy liasons, Scheinman said. This application will be open to all IU students, greek-affiliated or otherwise.
Because such a significant amount of people are affected by testicular and prostate cancer in the U.S., Scheinman said, it only made sense to be inclusive with the application process.
“Since it affects so many people, I think it would be counteractive to not open the application to others,” Scheinman said.
Non-greek students can also provide original perspectives to help with the project, Scheinman said.
The liaison application will be open until April 17, and more than 30 people have applied so far, Scheinman said.
The liason will help promote the No Shave November philanthropy event before and throughout the month, Lasson said. The IFC and PHA hope to have a liaison at each chapter promoting the event to IU students and faculty, Lasson said.
“The plan of this liaison is to bring forth a sense of community through advertising, planning and marketing of this philanthropy,” Scheinman said.
For the application process, Scheinman said the philanthropy council is more interested in personal passion than philanthropy work experience. However, he said he does encourage the latter.
“We’re looking for people who are passionate about philanthropies and passionate about the issues,” Scheinman said.
In order to raise money for the project, Lasson said those participating in the event will have individual fundraisers. The liaisons will be helping each of these participants raise money.
Within their own chapters, Lasson said IFC and PHA hope to see younger members get excited about the initiative.
“It tends to be the babies who are most excited about doing stuff for their chapter and the greek community,” Lasson said.
Lasson said IFC and PHA hope to be able to team with the Multicultural Greek Council and the National Panhellenic Council for the project.
However, because both councils have very few members, they have less money to support the project.
Regardless, Lasson said she still hopes to work with MCGC and NPHC to make the project stronger.
“I think we’re so lucky here at IU to have a greek-life community of this magnitude,” Lasson said. “We have so much power, and we need to utilize it.”
Lasson said she believes a unifying philanthropy project with so many organizations and students coming together can be beneficial not only to the cause, but also to IU greek life as a whole.
“This could make us all the much stronger,” Lasson said. “That’s why I’m so excited about it.”
