Local men’s health advocates have been hard at work planning another Father’s Day car show, following last year’s very successful inaugural event.
The MO-tor Men – the car-obsessed spin-off group of the Springfield Mo-Men, Springfield’s local chapter of the Movember Foundation – is partnering with Orion Springfield Central for the 2023 Car Show at Orion Springfield – Father’s Day Special.
The free event is open to everyone and will take place tomorrow, Sunday, September 3, beginning at 10am, at Orion shopping centre along Main Street, which will be pedestrian-access only for the day.
It will be a day full of cars – classic, racing, and roadster – as well as live music, food stalls, raffles, and other dad-friendly activities, all to raise funds for Movember.
The goal is to give men’s health issues some much-needed traction.
An Australian charity, Movember promotes proactive strategies for men’s health prevention and treatment – most famously through its moustache-growing fundraisers.
“We hope it will rival last year’s successful inaugural ‘Cars & Chill’,” Springfield Mo-Men (and MO-tor Men) co-founder Mark Winter said.
Last year’s event saw thousands of attendees ogling hundreds of beautiful automobiles and was instrumental in pushing the Springfield Mo-Men’s 2022 fundraising total across the huge $100,000 threshold.
“It’s great to have Orion back on board for another show along Main Street,” Mark said.
“After an incredibly successful 2022 where we raised over $100,000 for Movember Foundation Australia, 2023 is shaping up to be even bigger.”
Mark and his fellow Mo-Men are giving voice to the risks of prostate and testicular cancer, as well as mental health issues. He said he believes igniting conversation about such serious subjects is key.
“Prostate cancer is actually the biggest cancer-related killer in Australia,” Mark noted.
He also said the car show is designed to show support to local revheads and address the lack of location and opportunity for them to show off their vehicles.
Sounding the horn
According to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, nine Australian men die each and every day from the genetic disease.
Young men are particularly vulnerable to testicular cancer, with around half of diagnoses occurring well before the age of 40, the American Cancer Society reported.
More than three-fifths of men most at risk of developing cancer do not know how to check themselves, according to Movember.
“It’s not well known that you can actually get a blood test to detect prostate cancer,” Mark noted.
Those with symptoms or other risk factors can request a Prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test from their doctor – although PSA testing alone is not enough to diagnose prostate cancer.
Furthermore, suicide is now the overall biggest killer of men under the age of 55 in the country, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics – which cited spousal issues, legal problems, and work-related woes as most common driving factors.
That’s why the Mo-Men continue to hold regular, fun activities like their ‘Infamous Pie-Eating Competition’, The Man Walk – a twice-weekly 5 km morning walk around Orion Lagoon – and ‘Steak N Mates’, a monthly Friday-night dinner in support of Springfield’s local pubs.
In a crisis, please contact:
- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
- Lifeline: 13 11 14
- MensLine: 1300 78 99 78
- 13 YARN: 13 92 76 (First Nations crisis support)
- QLife: 1800 184 527 (LBGTQI+ support)
- Suicide Call Back Service: 1300 659 467
For more information or to donate, visit springfieldmomen.com.au or check out the Facebook page at facebook.com/springfieldmomen.
For other enquiries, contact Mark Winter at mark.winter@loanmarket.com.au.
