Plainview Resident: Grow A Beard, Help Fight Testicular Cancer

When it comes to fighting testicular cancer, Zach Helprin wants to make a difference. And he says growing a beard in October – ”OctobBeard,” he calls the effort – can help.

A lifelong Plainview resident, Helprin says growing a beard in October, and then posing on social media about it will help raise money and awareness for the Testicular Cancer Foundation. The non-profit aims to educate young men and their families about testicular cancer. The organization claims testicular cancer is the number one cancer in males ages 15-35, but highly survivable if detected early.

For Helprin, the mission is a personal one. His best friend was diagnosed with testicular cancer in July.

“Thankfully, my friend is cancer free now and looks to be in the clear, and he is lucky he caught it early and it didn’t spread,” Helprin wrote on thefundraising page he launched through the Testicular Cancer Foundation.

Here’s how Helprin says you can help:

1. Grow a beard in October (or if you are follically challenged on your face use/make a fake beard). Take a picture and post it to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. with the hashtags #octobeard and #TesticularCancerFoundation (or #TCF) along with the link to this fundraising page (www.octobeard.com)

2. Donate anything - even something as small as $10 dollars helps

3. Retweet, share, or post this link ( www.octobeard.com) and help us get the word out.

4. Be awesome and raise awareness.

Helprin says the Testicular Cancer Foundation is a “great organization that has helped me a lot getting this off the ground and promoting it to their 17,000 followers via their newsletter, Twitter, and Facebook.”

And, he notes, the effort segues right into Movember, a November campaign of the Movember Foundation. The organization says it has raised $559 million to date and funded more than 800 programs in 21 countries to save and improve the lives of men affected by prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health problems.

Learn more about the effort by visiting Helprin’s fundraising page.