IT Beards: Supporting Men’s Health Through Unity
In November of 2020, Scalefocus conducted the IT Beards initiative for the third consecutive year. The purpose behind it, as usual, was clear – to invite the IT men to stop shaving for a month, snap a selfie and enter a photo competition оn a specially made platform. We gathered donations to support charity organizations to treat and prevent men’s health issues through the registered benefactors’ voting.
This year though, there was something different and even more remarkable in the essence of the campaign. We decided to open the initiative outside of Scalefocus and make it available for every man in the IT sector who wished to join and help through bearding. Оur goal was to involve as many people – and beards – as possible, because when it comes to a good cause, every beard and mustache counts.
Partnering With IT Beards All Over
The open initiative brought together many companies in the sector who wished to join “the party” of the bearded in the two categories – Already Stylish (for people who had a pre-grown beard) and Fresh Start (for those starting it from scratch).
IT companies joined the friendly competition by entering their own participants or by merely becoming benefactors – buying bundles of points and voting.
The contestants uploaded a new photo each week, to show their beard’s progress and gather more fans. Тhe competition – and the voting – were fierce, so we extended the vote for one more week, finishing proudly on the 7th of December.
Among the partner companies who jоined the bearded army were Bosch.IO Bulgaria, Dynamo Software, IBS Bulgaria, BULPROS, TSD Services, Infragistics, Information Services, Vola Software, Smart IT – Smart Innovative Technologies, and Adasoft.
All of them deserve a big, warm thank you for the unity and efforts to bring this campaign to success. Ivan Ivanov from Scalefocus and Evgeni Krastev from TSD Services were the most voted contestants respectively in the Already Stylish and the Fresh Start categories.
Congratulations to them both – you keep wearing that beard proudly!
The Good That Grew From Unity
The joined forces of IT Beards this year brought donations оf over 5000 BGN to the WIN OVER CANCER Foundation (Cancercare.bg). The foundation gives reliable information on oncological diseases and coordinates with leading medical specialists in the country.
It also supports patients and their families by organizing events that help with prevention, treatment and awareness, and psychological support.
All gathered donations in 2020 went directly to the foundation to support the organization of information campaigns and medical checks for prostate cancer prevention in 2021. Тhe campaigns will be held in major cities in Bulgaria.
Moreover, with the participation of all of the fantastic contestants and benefactors who supported the cause, we managed to unite the IT sector around an initiative with great energy.
Stay tuned for next November when we will hopefully do even better with participants and gathered funds – and keep growing good deeds together.
