{"id":162289,"date":"2023-12-12T10:18:18","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T09:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=162289"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:05","slug":"rsg-de-raad-fraternity-raises-more-than-nine-thousand-euros-for-movember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2023\/12\/12\/rsg-de-raad-fraternity-raises-more-than-nine-thousand-euros-for-movember\/","title":{"rendered":"RSG De Raad fraternity raises more than nine thousand euros for Movember"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, about twenty members of the Rotterdamsch Studenten Gezelschap (RSG)\u2019s De Raad fraternity participated in Movember, an annual event in which people grow moustaches for a good cause. They raised nine thousand euros from family and friends for research into prostate and testicular cancer.<\/p>\n

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The members of the De Raad fraternity, with moustaches still intact.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFloris Deelen<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\u201cWe ended the month by shaving off our moustaches in the fraternity building\u201d, says member Floris Deelen. He organised the fundraiser this year. \u201cAt the beginning of October, we started to think about what we wanted to do and what would be fun. This resulted in us heading off to the fraternity building with wax strips and charging people ten euros each to wax our \u2018belly moustaches\u2019.\u201d It did not stop there, though: the RSG organised great activities throughout the month. \u201cFor example, people could order a metre of beer in the shape of a moustache, but with one beer less than goes in a normal metre. All the money this raised went into the pot for Movember.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to donating, the families of the fraternity members helped in other ways, too. For example, Floris\u2019 dad came up with a great idea. \u201cHe owns caf\u00e9 Gers in Spijkenisse, where you can spin the wheel\u201d, Floris says. \u201cIt usually costs ten euros, but he put the price up to eleven euros in November. Every extra euro raised went to our campaign and my dad matched the total raised as well.\u201d The barber\u2019s shop owned by the dad of fraternity member Elvis also did its bit. \u201cHe let us put up QR code posters in his shop, the ultimate place to raise money for Movember.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mental health<\/h2>
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The action in Floris' father's cafe.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFloris Deelen<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Among other causes, Movember raises money for research into prostate and testicular cancer. That said, Movember\u2019s focus on men\u2019s mental health is important to the fraternity as well. \u201cI think it\u2019s still quite a taboo subject for men, but it\u2019s been gaining more and more recognition in recent years and it\u2019s getting easier for men to talk about it.\u201d Floris believes that Movember has had a big role to play in this development. \u201cEvents like this show just how important this subject is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fraternity members are conscious of the need to look after their own mental health, too. \u201cWe always keep an eye out for each other and check in on anyone we might not have seen for a while, to make sure they\u2019re OK.\u201d The fraternity hopes that this will help students to reach out for help when they have study problems, thereby avoiding mental well-being issues. \u201cWe act quickly because no-one should have to cope on their own. And we don\u2019t want people to bottle up everything until it\u2019s too late to do anything about it.\u201d This makes it really important to check actively how someone is doing at times like this, Floris says. \u201cObviously, having others ask how you are lowers the threshold to getting help yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten thousand euros for the tenth edition<\/h2>
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Dispute members Elvis and Floris with (minimal) moustache.<\/span><\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFloris Deelen<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

The fraternity first started raising money for Movember nine years ago because of the personal connection a former member had with this good cause. \u201cHe knew someone with testicular cancer and came up with the idea at the time.\u201d The fraternity has been raising money successfully ever since \u2013 more than five thousand euros last year.<\/p>\n

The fraternity has set the bar even higher for next year. \u201cWe want to raise ten thousand euros to mark Movember\u2019s tenth edition.\u201d To achieve this, the members are planning to organise a sponsored run around the block of the fraternity building. \u201cWe weren\u2019t able to organise it this year, but ten kilometres seems like a good distance to us.\u201d There is just one problem: the lap around the block of buildings near the Oude Haven is rather short. \u201cAbout 380\u00a0metres, I\u2019d say so people will have to run a lot of laps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t