Issue date: 11/20/08 Section: TruLife

Phi Kappa Theta is taking on no-shave November for a righteous cause.

At the beginning of November, the members of Phi Kappa Theta relinquished the right to shave in order to raise money for Children's Miracle Network. Members are not allowed to shave their mustaches until they have reached their donation goals.

Senior Justin Starke said this is an interesting form of fundraising that hopefully will catch people's attention.

"Each member doesn't shave their mustache during the month of November and are required to find people to sponsor them," Starke said. "The mustaches look absolutely ridiculous and we want people to see us on campus as a group with these mustaches and know that we're trying to raise money for a good cause."

Starke said it's a fun way for everybody to raise money from a variety of contributors.

"What we really want to do is get as many random sponsorships as possible and then go to our friends," Starke said. "If we do that we're going to be able to make way more than $10 a person."

Members are trying to get enough money to shave their mustaches by asking different organizations and sororities for sponsorships, but they expect donations to increase as their mustaches grow in, Starke said.

"Phi Kapps will not see a dime of this money," Starke said. "It all goes to Children's Miracle Network. Once we have all the money compiled, we're making a donation to Children's Miracle Network in the name of a 14-year-old boy who died that I worked with this summer at camp."

As the mustaches develop - or not - problems related with them grow too.

"There are a couple of baby faces [who] can grow facial hair - it just doesn't exactly translate to a mustache, just a couple of really long hairs," Starke said.

Phi Kappa junior Jonathan Bruntrager's mustache is coming in nicely, but he said not everyone is excited about it.

"My girlfriend doesn't like it, so I said I'd shave it as soon as I raised $25," Bruntrager said.

He said many people already have had donors willing to pay high amounts for them just to shave it off completely, but they are holding out until at least the end of the month so they can raise the most money.

"I might shave mine out into a fu manchu," Bruntrager said. "It probably won't stick around long - maybe a day or two."

Cindee Starkie, director of sponsor relations for the Children's Miracle Network, said many college groups raise money for the organization but that few have used methods as unique as Phi Kappa Theta's.

"They are the first group that have done this before that I have heard of," Starkie said.

Starkie said she has seen colleges have battles of the sexes and donut-eating contests to raise money, but never mustaches.

Children's Miracle Network has been the national Phi Kappa Theta philanthropy organization since 2000, she said.

"What is unique about us [is that] we are a national organization [that] stays local with that area, so it helps local kids," Starkie said. "That way people have a direct impact."

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