Mustaches for Kids is a volunteer-run organization started in Los Angeles in 1999 to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to granting the wishes of children with terminal or life-threatening illnesses.

                                  The Melungeon

Each year, participants ("Growers") raise money by growing sweet, sweet Mustaches between Thanksgiving and Christmas. They shave their faces, except for the Mustache, a minimum of one time per week. The Growers solicit donations from friends, family, co-workers, and people in the community. At the end of the Growing Season, Mustaches for Kids hosts a Mustache Contest where the facial hair is evaluated by an independent panel of judges, and one Mustache is declared to be the "Sweetest."

Over the past eight years, Mustaches for Kids has spread across the world, a steady expansion that is not unlike the measured, deliberate growth of a Mustache. Mustaches for Kids has enjoyed the efforts of an impressive number of Growers who, collectively, have raised over $150,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and other children's charities.

This year, like 2005, the New York chapter of Mustaches for Kids will be Growing for the Children's Hospital of New Orleans.  While we still support the Make-a-Wish Foundation, even a year after Katrina, the people of New Orleans still need our help.