We did it!

Thanks to the generosity of over 90 friends and family, we have met our fundraising goal!

When all of the mustache hair settled, the results were momentus: $7,505 raised. 23 classroom projects fully funded. 1,716 elementary school students helped.

Your contributions went directly to purchase supplies that classroom teachers themselves requested. The materials included reading books at all levels, overhead projectors, science materials including a life size skeleton, and things as ordinary as printer cartridges (many poorer schools have printers but run out of money to buy the expensive ink cartridges.)

The elementary school where we concentrated our giving, Think College Now in Oakland, will begin receiving the supplies in early January. David Silver, TCN's wonderful principal, asked me to convey his school's appreciation for everyone's contributions this year. This school is changing kids' destinies and I'm proud to be helping it succeed. If anyone wants to get involved helping a school, please let me know and I'll connect you with TCN. http://www.thinkcollegenow.org/

Oh yes, and the results of the San Francisco chapter of Mustaches for Kids was quite impressive: Over $86,000 raised from over 1,000 contributors. Nationally, the fundraiser generated over a quarter of a million dollars! http://www.m4k.org/

And we had one amazing Stache Bash 2009 to celebrate our accomplishments. I made it to the finals of the Stache Pageant as a Russian Strongman named Stasha, but was edged out by a strong silent cowboy named Kurt in the tie breaker Stache-o-war (think tug of war with mustaches). Amazing time.

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement. It's an amazing collective accomplishment we can all feel very good about this holiday season!

last chance mustache dance!

It's been an amazing five weeks of mustache cultivation and charitable exploits. Together we've raised enough funding for educational supplies in 12 classrooms. Almost $5,000 to help the kids of the Think College Now elementary school in Oakland!

Huge thanks to those who have already contributed, so much generosity has been shown by so many.

Recent highlightsof my mustache tour includes raising almost $1,000 through guest bartending with my good friend Ahmad (photo above) at the London Black Horse Pub in San Francisco. On top of that, Ahmad goaded those at the bar that night to chip in $700 more if I shaved my head. So now I have a funny mustache AND am bald!

But our work is not done! I'm still working to raise funds for three more classroom projects (about $1,000 more) before the event concludes at the end of the week. Really important supplies that will make a difference to some amazing kids. Please help me reach this goal!

And for those in San Francisco, make sure to come to the amazing Stache Bash 2009 this Thursday night (December 17). Rickshaw Stop on 155 Fell Street (at Van Ness) starting at 8PM. A great party, complete with a mustache beauty contest. The dramatic conclusion of the Mustache for Kids 2009!

Thanks a million for your help.

Think College Now says thanks!

Thanks to so many of you for donating to my mustache cause! Together we've raised almost $5,000 that has fully funded 12 classroom projects at the amazing Think College Now elementary school in Oakland. And we have three more to go-- so keep giving til it hurts!

Below is a thank you email written last week by one of the teachers we're helping. Our donation bought her classroom dozens of books on American Presidents.

Dear Wade and friends,

Thank you so much for funding this project! My students are already clamoring to check-out their new books. I'm so excited to share these resources with them and many more students in the years to come! Your generous support did much more than put books into our classroom; it taught my students about education as a shared value in our society. The knowledge that donors from around the country are supporting them in their journey to become successful readers had a profound impact on them. When they read about the leaders of our past, they are even more aware that through hard work and dedication, they can become the leaders of the future. Thank you so much again for making a difference in the lives of my students!

With gratitude, Ms. Noonan

it takes a village

Accomplishing daunting challenges often involves teamwork, and Mustaches for Kids 2009 is no different. Over 40 courageous men have banded together this season to raise funding for public schools. Living legends like the notorious G.A.B.E. as well as legends-in-the-making like Twist-stache, Ahmad the Prince, and Stroud Stache.

We meet once weekly at a watering hole in the Mission District and swap war stories and share successes. A good time and a needed respite from the rigourous schedule of around the clock fundraising. The good news: we've raised over $10,000 for kid's schools so far. The challenge: we are over $10,000 away from our collective goal.

Personally, thanks to the generosity of 35 of you, I've been able to raise over $1,800 and get valuable technology into three classrooms at the amazing elementary school Think College Now (www.thinkcollegenow.org). I'm really excited about that. But, I still need to raise over $1,000 to meet my commitment to the students of Think College Now. So if you can, please consider donating to this amazing cause and forward the educational prospects of a bunch of amazing and deserving kids this holiday season.

My rapidly growing lip mane thanks you profusely!

Mustache Wisdom

Mustache of the Week: Steve Prefontaine. American middle distance runner. Born and raised in Coos Bay, Oregon, Prefontaine was an abnormally short runner who broke American records and became a sports phenom of his era. He helped inspire the "running boom" in the 1970s and was known for "gutting out" races. And had an amazing mustache. He died too young at the age of 24 in a car accident.

Think College Now fact of the week: 66% of the students at Think College now read at grade level in 2009, up from just 8% in 2003. 81% do math at grade level, up from 23% in 2003.

This amazing little elementary is changing lives and defying the odds against under-resourced public schools. "Gutting it out" as Steve Prefontaine would have said.

You and I are making a difference by helping them get critical school supplies and technology into the classroom. Please help this amazing educational story and all the kids who benefit from it! You can contribute through the link on the sidebar-- it only takes three minutes!

Me and my mustache thank you!

10 days in

10 days into this growing season and my mustache is looking, well... like something starting to resemble a mustache. Just enough to get sideway glances at the bus stop and quiet nods from hardy men who share in this age old facial hair tradition.

I notice mustaches all over the place now-- a bit like when you buy a new car of a certain type and see then start seeing that type of car all over the place.

More importantly than the mustache tomfoolery, thanks to 17 friends and family, we've raised $797 so far for the classrooms of Think College Now. Thanks to each of you who have donated. You are making a difference. We still have a long way to go to raise enough funds for the technology we want to help put in the classroom, but we also have over 25 days left.

Depressing fact: Only 1 in 20 Oakland students graduate from high school eligible to attend a University of California school.

Uplifting fact: 81% of TCN students perform at or above grade level in math (up from below 30% just five years ago). Math is often what trips students up from high school graduation and college, so this is a huge fact.

So join the cause, make a difference, and go shake the hand of a man with a mustache.

The Growth Commences!

Friends, Family, Countrymen:

I've just embarked on an epic journey of facial hair creation. Not a beard, lambchops, or those one of those ubiqitous 'soul patches.' Nope. I'm growing an honest to goodness mustache. Think Teddy Roosevelt. Emiliano Zapata. The Iron Sheik.

For vanity? For glamour? To get a rise out of co-workers? None of the above.

I'm sprouting the stache to raise money for the best little elementary school on the planet: Think College Now. Funny name for a school you say? We'll, here's the deal. It's an elementary school started by parents and teachers in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland. It's a public school, but part of the grassroots "small schools" movement in Oakland. 94% of students are on free and reduced lunch, 68% are english language learners. Since it opened in 2003, it has raised student achievement at a shocking rate. From less than 25% of students achieving at grade level to more than 75% achieving at grade level.

Check it out yourself! http://www.thinkcollegenow.org/

Contributing to my mustache-a-thon will go toward funding classroom technology that will help students continue to achieve these amazing results. We are helping them launch a career toward college! I'm growing with honorable bretheren throughout the country.

http://mustachesforkids.org/

Thanks in advance for your consideration!