Like most men, Jackson McLean has experimented with facial hair, sporting a goatee or handlebar moustache depending on his mood.

Funny thing is he’s only 11 years old.

The Ottawa student uses his mom’s black or brown eyeliner to draw on moustaches every day for Movember, the worldwide campaign to raise money and awareness for the battle against prostate cancer.

“I like to do the handlebar and that’s the one I usually do,” McLean told the Star.

Last Friday, McLean had raised $455 via his Movember Canada page. His story reached media around the world on the weekend, and as of Tuesday afternoon he had $3,375, with donations coming from across Canada and as far away as the Netherlands. Not bad for a kid whose original goal was to raise $200 for the cause.

“I feel really great and happy,” he said. “I multiplied my (fundraising) goal by 10.”

He has also started a club for his classmates and friends who also want to take part in Movember next year and wear their own sketched-on ’staches. His seven-year-old brother is really eager.

“They haven’t really been insulting (my moustaches), but they’ve been supporting me and asking a lot of questions,” McLean said. “My teacher said it was a good thing that I was doing.”

McLean came up with the idea while working on a class project with a friend, who was sporting a hairless moustache for fun. He was also inspired by the NHL players who grow their facial hair during playoffs, so he asked his parents if he could paint on some ’staches while playing with his hockey team. After learning more about Movember, he decided to do it every day for a month.

“We’re just so proud of him because he has taken it seriously. He understands cancer,” said his mom, Carol McLean. Three of their relatives have had the disease, two of whom died from it, she said.

The response to his Movember fundraising efforts has been “unbelievable,” she added.

“One thing that his dad and I are particularly proud of … every single pledge he gets, he sends an email back thanking them. At the end of the day, it’s just such a great cause.”

An organization called Bunch Family, known to Toronto parents for its website and family events, has also created a Facebook app for Movember, where people can Photoshop a cartoon moustache — think Yosemite Sam and Ned Flanders — onto their kids’ faces.

The idea is to submit the photos to the group’s Movember team page, called Mini Movember, and submit donations to the page. As of Tuesday afternoon, Mini Movember had raised $823.

Schools across Canada have been taking part in Movember with so-called moustache days where elementary students wear felt moustaches and high school students show off real ones. Toronto’s Greenwood College School, which has Grades 7 to 12, has raised $14,500.

The University of Toronto has also raised $48,409.

As this year’s Movember wraps up, Jackson McLean is already looking forward to the days when he can grow a real moustache.

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It might not be as fun, he said, because he won’t be able to change his ’stache styles as easily, but in the end it’s all about the charity.

“Anything and everything helps, so if you help out it means more money and more money means more people will be cured.”