Being that it’s November, a number of capable men will be sporting thick mustaches and beards in the spirit of “Movember.”

Movember, according to us.movember.com, is a 30-day stretch of emphasized cancer awareness in which participants allow their facial hair to grow freely. The organization also allows for female participants too.

The Movember movement has raised upwards of $600 million since 2003, and is continuing to rise.

Along with this movement, there are numerous other disease-influenced awareness seasons.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and its seemingly most vocal supporter is the NFL and their Crucial Catch campaign. The league utilizes pink gear during games that take place during the month of October.

But, things are not quite as they seem.

As VICE Sports and numerous other sources reported, the NFL doesn’t actually raise any money with the use of its pink gear.

According to VICE Sports reporter Smriti Sinha, “the NFL donates proceeds from its awareness campaign, auctions and the NFL Shop to the American Cancer Society (ACS), which in turns uses that money to increase awareness.”

In addition, some players were fined for wearing the pink gear during November and no, the fines weren’t donated either.

The summer of 2014 was filled with videos of people participating in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Participants, if they followed suit, were to either take the challenge and dump a bucket full of ice water onto their heads or pay a donation to the ALS foundation.

As it turned out, the foundation was not receiving as much as people were led to think. Also, there were some who felt that simply dumping water over one’s head when there are a number of examples of water shortages just in the U.S. alone, was an irresponsible idea.

So what does this all mean? Should we continue to partake in these awareness campaigns?

The answer is: absolutely.

Though donations don’t always come in the way that we’re led to think, they still are and will continue to do so for many different organizations.

With the holiday season coming up, though it’s not disease related, the Salvation Army will is always a huge success and is a constant reminder that our favorite time of year is growing closer.

Another key is that awareness is a huge factor.

If people are made aware of something, the more likely they are to want to make it a priority, in addition to the potential donations.

So, it’s November and it’s not too late to begin sporting your hairy side. Also, with the holiday season approaching, start gathering loose change for the kettles.

Elias Albert is a journalism major and can be reached 581-2812 or at ewalbert@eiu.edu