The University of Texas Interfraternity Council beat out all other IFCs nationwide this Movember, bringing in more than $30,000 to fight men’s health issues.

Coming in second nationwide was the University of Southern California IFC with roughly $17,000 and coming in second for the Big 12 IFCs was Iowa State University with roughly $3,000. The UT IFC set this year’s goal at $30,000, roughly $9,000 more than last year’s total, and took in $30,462. New initiatives this year included a shave truck on campus to give participants a clean shave to start off the month (per official Movember rules), a bowling tournament and an online contest to see which participant could get the most likes for a Movember mustache photo. With the photo seen above, Sigma Chi’s Paul Wagner and Danny Davis took it with 1,274 likes. 

Movember is an annual international effort to fight men’s health issues that takes place throughout the month of November. Participants collect donations based on pledges to grow mustaches, along with participating in other fundraising efforts. The mustaches serve a dual purpose of raising awareness of men’s health issues.  

Interfraternity Council President Edwin Qian said he thinks this year’s fundraising jump is due to the new initiatives, which led to more fraternities participating in the effort. Continued initiatives included a talk by cancer survivor Chris Brewer and a shirt sale drive. 

UT’s Sigma Alpha Mu took in the most among IFC fraternities with $5,852. The single participant that raised the most for the UT IFC was Phi Kappa Sigma’s Yannick Vela with $2,032. Yannick said his family has dealt with cancer, so he takes it very seriously. “Cancer’s kind of a big deal to me,” Yannick said. “My mom had breast cancer when I was in high school, and she was able to fight it off, so anything cancer-related I’m really willing to dedicate my time to.” Yannick said he raised the funds by asking everyone he knows, through Facebook posts, email and texts.

Kappa Sigma Darya Molavi came in second for individual fundraising among the UT IFC with $1,710 and Phi Kappa Tau Wilson Sexton came in third with $1,481. The three top fundraisers, along with Wagner and Davis, received iPads from the UT IFC as prizes.