No-Shave month takes on new meaning

Participants in the “Most Valuable Beard” contest are clean shaven and “ready to grow” for a cause.
They’re taking part in a fundraiser during “no-shave November” to help Mercy Medical Center-New Hampton’s campaign to bring a 3D mammography unit to the hospital. 
The hospital recently announced the start of its “Detect It, Treat It, Defeat It” campaign.
Proponents say 3D mammography has a number of advantages, including giving doctors and technologists the best opportunity to perform a mammogram that will result in a conclusive diagnosis with one exam, reduce call backs and eliminate the anxiety those “call backs” cause. 
The FDA-approved 3D mammography machine increases accurate outcomes for both recalls (49 percent) and biopsy (21 percent) compared with 2D mammography while reducing recalls for false positives by 40 percent.
Participants will be collecting funds in pink donation cans to remit to the hospital.
The hospital hopes the committee can raise $300,000 by June. 
 
JENNY MONTEITH serves as the hospital’s marking and public relations director, and she said this month’s “MVB” event will do more than just raise the money needed to bring 3D mammography to Mercy Medical Center-New Hampton.
“I think one of the big things is that it raises awareness, it gets the word out, if you will,” she said. “Every dollar — every nickel and dime, for that matter — helps so we appreciate that fact, but to have so many businesses and their employees willing to do this, it gets people talking about it.”
First Citizens Bank’s Denise Webster organized the Most Valuable Beard campaign.
“She’s done a great job with it,” Monteith said, “and really, Denise just kind of took the idea and ran with it. It will make a difference.”
The “MVB” program is simple. Participants started the month clean shaven. At their places of businesses are pink cans, and the hope is that each beard will bring in some cash to help fund the state-of-the-art technology for Mercy.
“We just wanted to have a little fun with it,” Webster said, “and with it being “No-Shave November,” we thought this was a great way to get guys involved in the process. They all probably, in one way or another, have been affected by breast cancer — they at least know someone who’s had to deal with it — and this is a way they can help raise funds, raise awareness, for what Mercy’s trying to do.”
 
TriMark Corp. had Vice President of International Operations and Resources Lynn Hopp and Environmental, Safety and Training Coordinator Collin Stephens agreed to participate in the most valuable beard challenge.
“First and foremost I believe New Hampton and the surrounding areas are very fortunate to have a facility such as the Mercy Medical Center at our disposal,” Hopp said. Hopp cited the U of I Hospital and Clinics in 2017 that one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime and 370 women in Iowa will lose their lives. Most importantly there are 3.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. Improvements in early detection have contributed to 39 percent decline in breast cancer deaths, and mammograms are the most common screening test.
“I believe our community deserves the best technology available to fight this disease,” Hopp said.
“This has been a small opportunity for me to help my new community and the surrounding area raise funds and awareness and do a small part in helping provide great technology to better fight this disease,” Stephens said, adding that people’s hospitality in town “has blown me away.”
 
Croell, Inc., Corporate office had several employees sign up for the challenge: Chief Operations Officer Harold Busta, Paving Manager Tom Schmitt, Human Resources Director Brad Babcock, Quality Control Director Russ Horner, Regional Manager Jeramy Croell, Financial Analyst Kris Courtney and Safety Officer Josh Schwickerath.
Participants said they are taking part to bring awareness and community support to the cause, adding: “It’s a fun event for our office, especially the guys who are normally always clean shaven, and a few haven’t clean shaven in a very long time and to shave it all off at the start of the month brought fun conversation.”
 
Zip’s AW Direct had signups from Carrick Johnson, assistant to the general manager and Parker Blunt, parts department employee.
Johnson agreed to take part because he “was ready for a beard trim.”
Blunt joined “to see how much [beard] I can grow.” 
 
New Hampton Community Schools had chemistry and computer science teacher and year-round coach Chad Pemble at the high school, Dean and Activities Director Bradley Schmitt and retiree Don Kubesh taking part.  
Pemble said he took part when asked because “It sounds like a fun way to support a very good cause.”
Schmitt joined “for a great cause; [I] love helping out those that help us out.”
Don Kubesh, retired from New Hampton Schools and now driving for AgVantage FS, joined for the “good cause” (and peer pressure from Schmitt).
 
New Hampton Metal Fabrication had employees Pete Gallup in purchasing, Zack Roberts in engineering, Vice-President Nick Wegner, Seth Wisner in sales engineering and Joel Strohman in fabrication agree to take part.
Gallup said, “Too many of my friends, family and acquaintances have had to fight breast cancer. From what I understand, no one is a fan of traditional mammograms and the images are not clear sometimes. This 3D imaging gives a better chance of early detection of possible cancer, which hopefully will save lives.”
Roberts wanted “to promote a good cause in a fun way with my coworkers!”
Wegner joined “to raise awareness for a great cause. This machine will help improve detection in a community full of great people.”
Strohman said it was “important to bring awareness to all types of cancer. My family has personally been affected by breast cancer so it’s important to help fund the research” and resulting advanced screening options.
 
New Hampton Tribune Editor Bob Fenske joined the cause noting it has been sometime since he was totally clean shaven and “the mother of one of my best friends from high school died from breast cancer in her late 40s, and that was really difficult to watch.”
Fenske also was inspired by a former colleague, Jeff Heinz, whom he worked with at the Mason City Globe Gazette.
Heinz, who retired in 2016 after a long career as a photographer, was one of relatively few men who was diagnosed with breast cancer. 
According to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, about 1 percent of all breast cancer cases occur in men. 
“I worked with Jeff for a number of years, and from afar, through social media especially,” Fenske said, “I’ve appreciated the grace and the advocacy Jeff has shown.”
— For more on this story, see the Nov. 13 New Hampton Tribune.