Movember Winnipeg top fundraisers get shave at CBC after month of fundraising

As Winnipeg's Movember campaign drew to a close on Monday, some of the city's top fundraisers gathered at CBC Manitoba to shave off their month's worth of facial hair.

The fundraiser has men grow moustaches or other facial hair for the month of November to raise money for a number of men's health charities.

"It's gone really well, I think. We've got a lot of decent support across the city. People have been really engaged in terms of growing moustaches, fundraising on the website, attending events, and we've had some really good corporate support as well," said Tyler Stewart, the co-chair of Movember Winnipeg. "It really encourages men to pay attention to their own physical health and stand up and understand it's OK to go and get help when you need it."

There aren't any hard numbers in yet on how much has been raised, but those should be available next month.

So far, Movember Winnipeg co-chair Jamie Hopkins says between $13 and $14 million has been raised in this year's campaign.

"There's too many guys out there with no dads. Men's health is a big issue. It's an issue that hasn't been focused on over the years, and Movember really shines a light on it and helps provide funding to where it's needed," he said. "We look at things like prostate cancer and testicular cancer, men's mental health. This year, we've added physical inactivity as a focus and we're trying to get people out and moving."

One of the city's top fundraisers was Jana Brunel.

She held fitness classes at the Manitoba Hydro building twice a week for the entire month and accepted donations to Movember Winnipeg for the classes.

"I had always liked Movember and what it did … I have lots of important men in my life but I wasn't going to grow a moustache," she said. "It was lots of fun."