65.0°,
Mostly Cloudy and Windy Long Beach's Mustaches for Kids hosting its ’Stache Bash at the Inn on Saturday
One week to go and I can finally say that I have a mustache. As with other life endeavors patience is a virtue. Given time and the right cause, facial hair will grow on even the barest of upper lips. As in years past I find myself in a funny spot in that just as my fuzzy upper lip starts gaining recognition from the general public, I am but days from shaving it off. Four days to be exact. But the next four days are perhaps the most exciting four days of our month long mustache season.
On Wednesday, several other ‘growers’ and I, as part of our Mustaches for Kids initiative, visited children at the Pediatric Cancer Care Center at Sloan-Kettering. This facility is and has been the recipient of our fuzzy lip induced donations for the past five years. Once a year, we are graciously given the chance to visit and bring a bit of mustache madness into the lives of the kids being treated at the hospital.
Activities include mustache inspired games and events like Pin The Mustache On The Donkey, Mustache Memory, Guess Whose Mustache, Mustache Coloring Books, Mustache Pillows and more. We bring a ton of fake ’staches for the kids and staff. Last year one little boy asked if he could take more than one mustache. He took 10 and then placed them all over his head, bald as a result of his chemo. He played like that for two hours, and it was awesome.
Every year I am asked the same question — isn’t it sad? No, it’s not. The kids and the staff are great. Every year I leave that hospital more motivated. Sloan-Kettering does a great job of allowing kids to be kids while battling cancer, and I want to help them continue to do so and help these kids win the fight.
This Saturday, it will be time for our biggest event of the year, the ’Stache Bash. Held once a year, this is the culmination of our mustache growing and fundraising season, and we throw a party to provide our ’staches with one heck of a send off and raise a lot of money for kids with cancer at the same time.
