Jumping into a half-frozen lake at the end of the month is their reward for raising more than $10,000 during Movember, a movement that raises funds and awareness for men's health.
A group of nine men at CKPG are growing moustaches, walking or running 60 km and jumping into West Lake next weekend to do their part to address issues like mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer.
The Jim Pattison Broadcast Group Prince George Team is one of the top fundraisers in Canada for teams with less than 10 people.
So far they've raised more than $11,000.
Stay tuned for what the team will do to celebrate if they reach $15,000.
"We've all done Movember individually in the past," news anchor Jesse McGowan said.
"Two years ago when I was doing sports here I decided to do it and I raised $1,000 and I thought that was pretty great. This year we thought since there's a lot of guys in the newsroom and we're all willing to grow moustaches that we could use our modest platform in town to raise money for a good cause."
Exploring the other team member's inspiration, things got personal.
Ethan Ready talked about something he had never addressed with the team before as he stood alongside his masked coworkers including McGowan, Matt Fetinko, and Jeromy Corrigan.
"For myself - this is actually the first time I've told anyone here - I've struggled with depression ever since high school," Ready said. "When I moved to Prince George from Woodstock, Ontario, that first two weeks of living in Prince George - many of us have gone through that - it was a very tough period of time living out of a hotel room for that two weeks with no social life or anything so when we were talking about Movember and when I saw men's mental health was a huge portion of the campaign it definitely hit a personal point. It's one of those things where I think if it's not you then there's bound to be someone you know - just like cancer - there's bound to be someone you know who's struggling with depression."
Without missing a beat Matt Fetinko quickly jumped in to support his coworker.
"I think we're getting to the point where we're moving past the old school 'toxic masculinity' kind of thing where it's not OK for a man to talk about these sorts of things. I grew up in Nova Scotia where a lot of people back there are still very old school but we're getting to a point now where obviously it's important to talk about these sorts of things. Half of the Movember campaign is raising funds but the other half is about getting the discussion of men's health out there and being able to get comfortable enough to talk about things and that's pretty much half the battle."
Ready said the mental health aspect of the Movember campaign has been in place since 2012.
"The fact that it's kind of flown under the radar for many people just shows how much mental health has been on the back burner and now that it's been brought forth I think it's helping more people talk about it," Ready said. "And that's certainly a good thing."
Along with McGowan, Ready, Fetinko and Corrigan, the rest of the team includes Alex Kassies, Greg Fry, Caden Fanshaw, Kevin Gemmel and Julien Fournier, a former coworker who wanted to participate, too.
The Movember movement that raises funds and awareness for men's health, including mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer and testicular cancer is best known for its facial hair challenge where men are encouraged to grow a moustache, but there are other aspects as well including to walk or run 60 km during November to honour the 60 men lost to suicide each hour every hour across the world or host virtual events to inspire and encourage others.
There are 9.9 million men in the world living with prostate cancer and testicular cancer is the most common cancer among men between the ages of 15 and 39.
Mental health and suicide prevention is top of mind right now especially as the pandemic's protocols and safety guidelines make staying connected a challenge.
Prince George residents are invited to support the cause by being part of the CKPG team's initiative by visiting https://ca.movember.com/team/2299159.
