In honor of prostate awareness month, Sacramento State fraternity Epsilon Sigma Rho hosted a prostate cancer awareness table in order to share information with young men about the risk of getting the disease.

According to Epsilon Sigma Rho’s OrgSync (their online community managing system), their main purpose was to promote community service and raise the level of prostate cancer awareness through the community.

“As chapter president I’m taking new initiative to focus on our national philanthropy, which is prostate cancer awareness,” said Cesar Perez, the president of the Epsilon Sigma Rho Chapter.

The table in the union contained poster boards with diagrams, pictures, statistic informational fact sheets, as well as free prostate cancer awareness bracelets to attract students.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men, 220,000 men are living with prostate cancer. There are very few warning signs that someone has prostate cancer until it has become fatal.

One man dies from prostate cancer every hour.

Each member of Epsilon Sigma Rho is required to do 30 hours of community service per given semester, with the table this semester being something new they are offering. The fraternity found this was an effective way to share with young men the fact that prostate cancer can be contracted at any age.

Epsilon Sigma Rho traditionally hosts an outdoor event to get the community and other organizations involved.

“Every spring semester our organization hosts a kickball tournament where we invite a number of sororities to donate and participate,” said Perez, “in which all funds and proceeds we donate to a local Prostate Cancer Awareness organization.”

They want students to know that age, high fat diets, family history, and race all play an important part in prostate cancer. African American men are 60 percent more likely to contract the disease than other races and eating vegetables and fruits with high levels of lycopene and antioxidants can reduce the chances for cancer.

All men should make regular visits to the doctor and consider getting tested for prostate cancer around the age of 40.